Florida men’s basketball now knows the full path for 2026-27, and it starts with a familiar name in a familiar place. The Gators will open the season against Miami on Nov. 2 in Tampa at Benchmark International Arena, the same city where last season ended.
That opener headlines a schedule loaded with early tests. Florida will also see Florida State on Nov. 10, Duke on Dec. 1 in the ACC/SEC Challenge, and a set of Players Era tournament games in Las Vegas against Notre Dame, Houston or Rutgers, and Kansas, UNLV, West Virginia or Auburn.
The Gators are coming off a 27-8 season and a 16-2 mark in SEC play, good for the program’s first conference regular-season title since 2014. The run ended sooner than Florida wanted, though, with an early exit in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Iowa.
This group looks built to chase more. Florida kept most of its core, including Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon.
Haugh was named an All-American, Chinyelu collected National and SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors, and Condon earned all-conference recognition for the third straight year. That kind of continuity has Florida in position to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll come late October.
The nonconference slate keeps rolling after the opener. Florida will host Jacksonville on Nov.
5, Merrimack on Nov. 13, Milwaukee on Nov.
24, Vermont on Dec. 6, Florida A&M on Dec. 21 and Long Island on Dec.
- The Gators also travel to Florida State and, as reported, are set to face Georgia Tech in Orlando on Dec. 12, though that game has not been officially announced.
Another matchup on Dec. 18 is also still to be announced.
League play begins on the road at Texas on Jan. 2, and that one comes with a wrinkle: Florida and Texas will play a home-and-away series this season. The SEC grind continues quickly with Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas again, Auburn, Missouri, LSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas and another trip to South Carolina before the regular season closes at home against Kentucky on March 6.
Florida’s full SEC slate also includes Jan. 5/6 against Oklahoma, Jan. 9 against Vanderbilt, Jan. 12/13 at Mississippi State, Jan. 16 at Alabama, Jan. 19/20 against Texas A&M, Jan. 23 at Georgia, Jan. 30 at Tennessee, Feb. 2/3 against South Carolina, Feb. 6 against Texas, Feb. 9-10 at Auburn, Feb. 13 against Missouri, Feb. 16/17 at LSU, Feb. 20 against Georgia, Feb. 23/24 against Ole Miss, and Feb. 27 at Arkansas.
The SEC Tournament will be held March 10-14 in Nashville.
In Other News...
Dan Mullen May Have A Path Florida Fans Won't Want To See
Dan Mullens next chapter at UNLV is starting to look like the kind of setup that could fit him better than the one he left behind in Gainesville. The former Florida coach has been recruiting in a different lane out West, building classes in the national middle with three-star players, and the early returns suggest a program that may be tailored more to his approach than the pressure-cooker expectations that followed him at Florida.
The intrigue for Gators fans is what comes next if that fit keeps improving. CBS Sports analyst Brad Crawford recently projected UNLV as the Group of Six team in the 2026 College Football Playoff, while Florida was left out of that forecast, a reminder that Mullen still has a path to national relevance even if it comes far from the SEC spotlight. For a coach whose Florida tenure produced plenty of wins, the possibility of him climbing again in a place like Las Vegas is the kind of storyline that will not go unnoticed in the Swamp. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Quietly Made A Staff Move Fans Will Notice In Close Games
Special teams can swing a season in the margins, and Florida is making a quiet move to try to sharpen that edge before the next kickoff. Greg McMahon is set to join the Gators as a special teams analyst, bringing a long coaching rsum that includes work in both the NFL and college ranks, plus a familiar connection to head coach Jon Sumrall from their time together at Tulane.
For a team looking to be cleaner in close games, the addition adds another experienced voice to a unit that rarely gets the spotlight until it decides field position, momentum or even the final score. McMahons background at places like LSU, Tulane and with the Saints gives Florida a veteran presence behind the scenes, and it signals the staff is taking the hidden parts of the game seriously heading into the season. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Legend Sees Something In Jon Sumrall Fans Cant Ignore
Jon Sumrall has spent the offseason giving Florida fans plenty to chew on, and not just because of what he might do on Saturdays. His candid personality has landed well, and the early returns on player retention and staff assembly have helped steady a fan base that was looking for reasons to believe after a noisy coaching search. Former Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel has noticed the shift, saying the skepticism around Sumrall has started to give way as people see how he operates.
Wuerffels support carries real weight in Gainesville, and he pointed to the way Sumrall has already made an impact beyond the practice field. Recruiting, fundraising and fan engagement all matter in this job, especially before a season even starts, and Sumrall seems to be checking boxes in each area. For a program trying to build momentum, the encouraging part is not just that he has made a good first impression, but that the people who know the job best are beginning to sound convinced. [Read more 🡒]