Florida basketball expected to open 2026-27 campaign against Miami

Florida basketball is expected to open its 2026-27 season with an in-state rival.

The Gators will face rival Miami in Tampa at Benchmark International Arena on Nov. 2 for the season opener, which was first reported by the Associated Press. The rematch between the Gators and Hurricanes will be part of a doubleheader with Florida State and Florida A&M.

A source confirmed the news to the Gainesville Sun, however the game has not been finalized.

UF defeated Miami 82-68 in Jacksonville last season. Florida head coach Todd Golden told media during his first postseason press conference that future matchups against the Hurricanes seemed likely.

“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 like I was in at San Francsico from the standpoint of you have a really good team and you want to play the best because it’s a win-win.  So they’d want to play us and they’d have a chance to team us.

“There’s a lot of teams that don’t so we go to 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.”

The Gators also learned last week that they will play in the first week of the Players Era tournament.

Florida will play the week of Nov. 16 with the rest of the field, including Houston, Kansas, Auburn, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Rutgers and UNLV, according to ESPN.

Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at AAbadie@usatodayco.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at or on Instagram .