No. 1 Florida wasted no time showing it belonged at the top.
The Gators opened the 2026-27 season with a convincing 77-67 win over No. 14 Miami in Tampa, leaning on a strong first half and a locked-in defensive finish to put away their in-state rival.
Unlike last year’s opener, there was no early reality check here. Florida looked like the better team from the start and spent most of the night proving it.
The biggest separator came after halftime. Miami came out with a 7-0 burst to trim the margin to three, then later got it down to two.
Florida answered with a Domen Petrović 3-pointer that sparked a 13-4 run, including four triples, and pushed the Gators back out to an 11-point cushion midway through the half. From there, the game turned into a grind.
Both teams went cold, and Miami missed 18 of 19 shots over a 10:12 stretch before the final 90 seconds. Florida’s defense did the rest.
Boogie Fland helped slam the door with two free throws at 1:21, stretching the lead to 11 and effectively ending Miami’s last push. The Gators didn’t exactly blaze away down the stretch, but they didn’t need to. Their defense was good enough to carry them through a rough shooting finish.
Florida’s offense looked sharp early, especially from deep. The Gators opened 5 of 6 from 3-point range and built a 10-point lead before later extending it to 14 on an 8-2 run that included two more threes. Even after the hot start cooled, Florida still went into halftime up 10 with 11 assists on its first 15 baskets.
The frontcourt was the real engine. Thomas Haugh was the best player on the floor, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for a double-double, with 13 of those points coming in the first half.
He hit 4 of 8 from long range and matched Fland with four assists. Rueben Chinyelu controlled the glass with 14 rebounds, while Alex Condon added 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting and seven boards.
Petrović gave Florida a boost off the bench, knocking down 2 of 3 from beyond the arc in 11 minutes.
Fland’s night was uneven overall, including a 6-for-10 showing at the line, but he still made 2 of 3 threes and finished with four assists. Florida’s improved backcourt and deeper bench showed up in the box score, and the Gators shot 42.3% from 3-point range after finishing last season as one of the worst long-range teams in the nation.
The numbers around the game tell the same story. Florida led for 33:11, won bench scoring 22-14 and turned 11 Miami turnovers into 21 points.
The Gators also had 17 assists on 23 made baskets, while Miami managed only six assists on 21 field goals. The whistle was heavy all night, with the teams combining for 46 fouls and 65 free-throw attempts, which dragged the pace down.
Florida could have made the win look even cleaner by shooting better than .571 at the line.
There were still some rough patches. Florida went just 5 of 21 from the field over the final 16:08, and that’s the kind of stretch Todd Golden will want to clean up. But the larger picture was hard to miss: this looked like a more complete team than the one Florida had a year ago.
A few other notes from the win: Florida improved to 48-23 all-time against Miami, is 4-0 at neutral sites against the Hurricanes and has won four straight in the series. Golden is now 4-1 in season openers, and Florida, which returned nearly 81% of its scoring from last season, was playing an AP Top 25 opponent in a season opener for just the eighth time in program history.
The Gators are now 3-5 in those games. Florida was also ranked No. 1 in the Preseason AP Top 25 for the second time in program history, matching 2006.
Next up, Florida hosts Jacksonville on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
Florida’s women also rolled, beating Bucknell 83-60 in Tammi Reiss’ debut. Kyomi Miller scored 31 points with six rebounds and five assists, while Vanessa Harris added 26 points and six boards. Together, they accounted for 57 points and 69% of Florida’s scoring.
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Even with the change on the sideline, Venables plans to stick with senior John Mateer as the starting quarterback against Florida. Mateer has had an inconsistent season, but he came out of the South Carolina game with a solid performance, which gives Oklahoma at least one familiar piece as it tries to sort out the rest of its offense before facing the Gators. [Read more 🡒]
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Jon Sumrall said Williams could be in line for more snaps as injuries have thinned the receiving corps, turning a young depth chart into a more immediate opportunity. Florida also has other freshmen and first-year transfers making progress in practice, which gives the staff some options as it tries to patch together production now while also building for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Suddenly Faces A Bigger Problem Than Just Losing To Georgia
The loss to Georgia did more than dent Floridas playoff path. It left Jon Sumrall looking for signs that his team can absorb a gut punch and keep moving, because the next stretch will tell him plenty about where this group really stands. Sumrall said the Gators have to own the defeat and turn quickly toward the games still in front of them if they want to keep a nine-win season within reach.
That task is made tougher by what comes next, with Oklahoma, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Florida State still on the schedule. Florida no longer has the luxury of dwelling on what happened in Jacksonville, and the bigger question now is whether the Gators can respond with the kind of emotional toughness that keeps a season from slipping away. [Read more 🡒]