Florida Gators announce season opener vs. Miami in Tampa
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators will open the 2026-27 season in Tampa against in-state rival Miami in the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic. The game, which will take place on Nov. 2 at Benchmark International Arena, was officially announced on Monday.
Tickets will go on sale to the public on Monday, June 8, at 10 a.m. with presales for Gator Boosters and season ticket holders taking place June 3-7.
Florida vs. Miami is the nightcap of a doubleheader that opens with Florida State against Florida A&M. The game times will be announced at a later date, but both matchups will air on the ESPN family networks.
Florida and Miami faced each other last year in Jacksonville and UF won the game 82-68. Gators coach Todd Golden previously hinted that the Hurricanes would be interested in a rematch next season.
“You have teams like Miami, where I think Jai [Lucas] is doing a great job,” Golden said. “He’s formulated a really good roster and he’s in a position that I kind of feel I was in at San Francisco from the standpoint of you have a really good team and you want to go play the best because it’s a win-win. So they’d want to play us and they’d have a chance to beat us. There’s a lot of teams that don’t. So we gotta find the right programs and the right teams to play that make sense for us, that provide a good competitive game and will help us prepare for SEC play.”
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The Gators also take part in the Player’s Era tournament in Las Vegas. UF faces Notre Dame in the Nov. 17 opener of the Players Era 8 event at the Michelob ULTRA Arena. The winner of the Florida-Notre Dame matchup will take on the winner of Houston vs. Rutgers in the semifinal matchup on Nov. 18.
The Players Era 8 championship game is set for Nov. 19. The opposite side of the bracket includes West Virginia vs. Auburn and Kansas vs. UNLV in the opening round.
“We’re playing in Players Era, so that’s 3-4 really good games right there,” Golden said. “And we’ll play a couple more really tough opponents in preparation (for SEC play). It did not feel good being 5-4 (last season), but it definitely benefited us and allowed us to be prepared to win the league. So, somewhere in between, but we’ll play some marquee matchups outside of Players Era.”