Florida, Miami finalizing neutral-site meeting for 2025-26 season, per report
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Florida and Miami are reportedly planning a neutral-site meeting on the hardwood in the upcoming season.
Per Graham Hall of 247Sports, the Gators and Hurricanes are finalizing plans to play in Jacksonville on Nov. 16.
As in-state rivals, UF and UM have a long history on the hardwood. The series dates back to 1928. The teams last met in 2019, a 78-58 win for Florida to improve its record to 46-23 against the Hurricanes.
Miami is entering its first season under new head coach Jai Lucas. It’s no surprise that Lucas has interest in renewing the rivalry, as he began his playing career at Florida under Billy Donovan. Arriving in Gainesville as a McDonald’s All-American, Lucas spent the 2007-08 with the Gators before transferring to Texas, where he played 2009-11.
The 2025-26 season will be Lucas’s first as head coach. He’s been an assistant coach at Texas (2016-20), Kentucky (2020-22) and Duke (2022-25).
Todd Golden‘s Gators enter 2025-26 coming off the third national championship in Florida basketball history. Golden had a busy offseason shaping the UF roster with the noted departures of starters Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin and reserve Denzel Aberdeen. Golden turned to the transfer portal adding Boogie Fland (Arkansas), Xaivian Lee (Princeton) and AJ Brown (Ohio). The Gators return talented bigs Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu, Thomas Haugh and Micah Handlogten.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
