Florida Gators will open 2026-27 season against Miami in Tampa

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Another non-conference matchup has been scheduled for the Florida Gators. And this time, it’s the first game of the 2026-27 season.

UF will open next year against in-state rival Miami, playing the Hurricanes for the second year in a row. The 2026-27 season opener will take place in Tampa.

The news 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. FAMU and FSU haven’t played since a brawl involving Sam Cassell in 1991.

Florida and Miami faced each other last year in Jacksonville and UF won the game 82-68. Last month, Gators coach Todd Golden 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.”

The Gators will also take part in the Player’s Era tournament in Las Vegas, which includes 24 teams. UF headlines the Players Era Eight field the week of November 16, which also includes Houston, Kansas, Auburn, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Rutgers and UNLV.

“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.”

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