GAINESVILLE — The Florida Gators’ men’s basketball schedule is set, highlighted by a Dec. 1 visit from Duke, a Senior Day matchup against Kentucky on March 6 and a Jan. 9 showdown with Vanderbilt after the Commodores eliminated the Gators in last season’s SEC Tournament semifinals.
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Florida opens its 16-game home schedule Nov. 5 against Jacksonville, three days after beginning the season against Miami Nov. 2 in Tampa’s Benchmark International Arena — site of the season-ending 73-72 NCAA Tournament loss to Iowa.
“It’ll be kind of a good opportunity to kind of get that bad taste out of our mouths from the way last season ended,” coach Todd Golden recently told the Orlando Sentinel.
The Gators open SEC play Jan. 2 at Texas before hosting Oklahoma on Jan. 5 or 6 in their SEC home opener.
Neutral-site dates on Dec. 12 and 18 also have yet to be finalized, while times for SEC midweek dates will be announced later.
In addition to visits from Vanderbilt and Kentucky, the Gators will host Texas (Feb. 6), Missouri (Feb. 13) and Georgia (Feb. 20) on Saturdays. Other midweek SEC games beside Oklahoma will be against Texas A&M (Jan. 19/20), South Carolina (Feb. 2/3) and Ole Miss (Feb. 23/24).
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Coming off a 27-8 finish and SEC regular-season championship, the Gators sold out 10 games in 2025-26 and have been at full capacity during 19 of the past 25 games in the O’Connell Center. Florida is 43-3 at home the past three seasons under Golden.
Other than the highly anticipated visit from Duke, Florida’s nonconference schedule also includes the Players Era 8 Tournament in Las Vegas from Nov. 17-19. The Gators open with Notre Dame before facing either Rutgers or Houston, setting up the possibility of a rematch with Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars after the teams met in the 2025 national title game. Auburn, Kansas, UNLV and West Virginia make up the other side of the bracket.
Entering Golden’s fifth season at Florida, the Gators return 81.8% of their scoring from last season’s SEC championship team. Four starters are back, including seniors Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh, who form one of the nation’s top frontcourts. Starting point guard Boogie Fland also is among six of the eight primary rotation players returning, with 11 players expected back overall.
The Gators also welcomed back veteran guard Denzel Aberdeen, though the former Dr. Phillips High product is awaiting an NCAA waiver for a fifth season of eligibility after spending the 2025-26 season at Kentucky.
Florida’s Nov. 5 and Dec. 6 home dates will be men’s and women’s basketball doubleheaders.
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2026-27 regular-season schedule
Nov. 2: Miami (Tampa)
Nov. 5: vs. Jacksonville
Nov. 10: at Florida State
Nov. 13: Merrimack
Nov. 17: Notre Dame (Las Vegas)
Nov. 18: Houston-Rutgers (Las Vegas)
Nov. 19: Auburn/Kansas/UNLV/West Virginia
Nov. 24: vs. Milwaukee
Dec. 1: vs. Duke
Dec. 6: vs. Vermont
Dec. 12: TBA (neutral site)
Dec. 18: TBA (neutral site)
Dec. 21: vs. Florida A&M
Dec. 29: vs. Long Island
Jan. 2: at Texas
Jan. 5/6: vs. Oklahoma
Jan. 9: vs. Vanderbilt
Jan. 12/13: at Mississippi State
Jan. 16: at Alabama
Jan. 19/20: vs. Texas A&M
Jan. 23: at Georgia
Jan. 30: at Tennessee
Feb. 2/3: vs. South Carolina
Feb. 6: vs. Texas
Feb. 9/10: at Auburn
Feb. 13: vs. Missouri
Feb. 16/17: at LSU
Feb. 20: vs. Georgia
Feb. 23/24: vs Ole Miss
Feb. 27: at Arkansas
March 2/3: at South Carolina
March 6: vs. Kentucky
Edgar Thompson can be reached at [email protected]