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USA Today
04-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Florida basketball finalizing agreement with Arizona Wildcats on 2025-26 season opener
Florida basketball finalizing agreement with Arizona Wildcats on 2025-26 season opener The Florida basketball program may have finally found its season-opening opponent when it opens the 2025-26 campaign in defense of its national championship. That team appears to be the Arizona Wildcats, an arguable blue blood program that has a rich history of success on the collegiate parquet. The two parties are currently working out the final details of a season opener played on Monday, Nov. 3, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein. Tipoff time is still to be determined. The Gators and 'Cats will be joined by the BYU Cougars and Villanova Wildcats in Las Vegas for a doubleheader that same day. Those details are also yet to be announced, but an official announcement is expected soon. Arizona's 2024-25 campaign results The Wildcats reached the Sweet Sixteen, finishing the season with a 24-13 overall record — including a 14-6 mark against Big 12 opponents — after a disappointing 4-5 start. 'Zona also made it to the conference tournament finals, where it ultimately fell 72-64 to top-seeded Houston Cougars in Kansas City, Missouri. Of course, those same Cougars fell to the Gators in the NCAA Tournament Finals. Arizona finished the season ranked 13th in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and 15th in the AP Top 25. Meanwhile, the final NET rankings had them at 12th, KenPom at 13th and ESPN's Basketball Power Index at a bullish ninth in the nation at the conclusion of the 2024-25 campaign. Florida basketball's history against Arizona The two cross-country schools have only faced each other four times on the collegiate parquet, with Florida and Arizona splitting them evenly. The most recent meeting was in 2012 in Tucson, Arizona, when the Wildcats snuck off their home floor with a white-knuckled 65-64 victory. The year before, the Orange and Blue defended its own turf with another close call — a 78-72 win in overtime. The two meetings prior were both on neutral ground, with UF taking the 2003 matchup in Springfield, Massachusetts, 78-77, and UA winning in the championship game of the Coaches vs Cancer Classic in New York City back in 2001, 75-71. Interestingly, the schools have only ever met in the first half of a season while Florida holds the edge in the combined scoring, 291-289, over those four meetings. Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
USA Today
09-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Florida basketball tops final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll after national title win
Florida basketball tops final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll after national title win The Florida Gators are the 2025 men's college basketball national champions after beating the Houston Cougars in the NCAA Tournament Finals, 65-63, for their third-ever title. It was a long and winding road for Todd Golden and Co., but they managed to reach the promised land despite much adversity. The final edition of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll was released on Tuesday, with the Orange and Blue perched atop the standings with all 31 first-place votes. The NCAA Tournament runners-up earned the second spot followed by the other Final Four teams, the Duke Blue Devils and Auburn Tigers, respectively. Florida was one of eight Southeastern Conference schools to make the final cut, a list that also includes Auburn, the Tennessee Volunteers (No. 5), Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 6), Kentucky Wildcats (No. 14), Ole Miss Rebels (No. 18), Texas A&M Aggies (No. 19) and Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 25). The Missouri Tigers was the only SEC team outside of the top 25 to earn a mention, dropping out from No. 24 in the previous poll while clinging to 33 votes. With the 2024-25 campaign now officially in the books, here is a look at the final standings according to the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll final standings RANK TEAM REC PTS 1 Florida(31) 36-4 775 2 Houston 35-5 744 3 Duke 35-4 706 4 Auburn 32-6 689 5 Tennessee 30-8 621 6 Alabama 28-9 610 7 Michigan State 30-7 593 8 Texas Tech 28-9 582 9 Maryland 27-9 469 10 St. John's 31-5 436 11 Michigan 27-10 427 12 Purdue 24-12 384 13 Arizona 24-13 353 14 Kentucky 24-12 330 15 BYU 26-10 316 16 Wisconsin 27-10 315 17 Iowa State 25-10 280 18 Ole Miss 24-12 214 19 Texas A&M 23-11 195 20 Gonzaga 26-9 155 21 Louisville 27-8 146 22 Saint Mary's 29-6 97 23 Clemson 27-7 95 24 Creighton 25-11 90 25 Arkansas 22-14 84 Others receiving votes: Memphis 63, Drake 52, Illinois 49, UConn 41, Oregon 40, Missouri 33, UCLA 33, Marquette 18, New Mexico 11, Colorado State 9, UC San Diego 7, Kansas 6, Baylor 6, McNeese 1 Dropped from rankings: Memphis 16, Missouri 24, Marquette 25 Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
USA Today
08-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Way-too-early rankings for next season following Florida Gators' national championship
The Florida Gators are the 2025 men's basketball national champions, thanks to a razor-thin 65-63 win over the Houston Cougars in the NCAA Tournament Finals. Men's March Madness did not disappoint this season with two of the top-seeded teams putting on a show for the national audience. And just like that, the sports media has already started looking ahead to next season, including ESPN's Jeff Borzello, who published his way-too-early rankings for the 2025-26 campaign shortly after the final horn sounded. Fans of the Orange and Blue will be very disappointed with his assessment, as he placed UF at No. 19 to start things off. "How will the Gators follow an incredible season? It could depend on how Todd Golden rebuilds the perimeter. Walter Clayton Jr. is obviously the major departure, but Will Richard and Alijah Martin are also out the door," Borzello points out. "And what about Alex Condon? He's a borderline first-round draft pick and could test the waters. Thomas Haugh is a breakout candidate next season, and Rueben Chinyelu is also back down low. Expect a much different projected lineup in the next update of these rankings." Projected Starting Lineup Denzel Aberdeen (7.9 PPG)Urban Klavzar (3.2 PPG)Cornelius Ingram Jr. (No. 26 in ESPN 100)Thomas Haugh (9.8 PPG)Rueben Chinyelu (6.1 PPG) ESPN way-too-early men's college basketball rankings Houston Cougars Purdue Boilermakers Louisville Cardinals UConn Huskies Michigan Wolverines Kentucky Wildcats Arkansas Razorbacks Duke Blue Devils St. John's Red Storm UCLA Bruins Alabama Crimson Tide Auburn Tigers Iowa State Cyclones Wisconsin Badgers Kansas Jayhawks BYU Cougars Arizona Wildcats Michigan State Spartans Florida Gators Gonzaga Bulldogs Tennessee Volunteers Texas Tech Red Raiders Ohio State Buckeyes Texas Longhorns North Carolina Tar Heels Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
USA Today
08-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Men's March Madness: Todd Golden recounts Florida's NCAA Tournament Finals win vs Houston
Men's March Madness: Todd Golden recounts Florida's NCAA Tournament Finals win vs Houston The Florida Gators are the 2025 NCAA Division I men's college basketball tournament champions after taking down the fellow top-seeded Houston Cougars in San Antonio on Monday night, 65-63. Once again, Todd Golden's team required a late-game rally to prevail. In fact, it was the fourth of six total tournament matchups that required a comeback to seize victory from the jaws of defeat, a list that also includes the UConn Huskies, Texas Tech Red Raiders and Auburn Tigers. All that matters in these games — or any game, really — is who is on top when the final horn sounds. And despite only 1:04 of the entire 40 minutes of play, the Gators still found a way to win that crown. After the game, Golden talked about his first national championship at any level, as well as what it took to get there. READ MORE: Florida athletes celebrate Gators basketball winning NCAA Tournament Todd Golden's opening statement "It's a heck of an accomplishment. I'm super proud of everybody in my program, top to bottom. My staff, been together for three years, worked incredibly hard to help get our players to this point. Our players, they've been the difference all the way along. Been incredibly consistent all year. Have worked with a great work ethic. "Obviously, we have an incredibly talented group, one of the most talented groups individually in America. I do think what separates us and has separated us all season long is our team talent, how our guys have played together and for each other all year. Because of that, we can call each other national champions for the rest of our lives." On responding to double-deficit "Our guys have been really good all year staying the course. In this tournament, especially after the first round, every team you play is going to be really, really, really good. You have to have the mental toughness to be able to withstand a little adversity. We played an incredible UConn team that was used to winning in the second round. Had to get through that one. Obviously Texas Tech, great program. Had to find a way to come back and beat them. Obviously Auburn. The best team in America most of the year in the semifinal. "There's going to be times of adversity trying to fight back in those games. Those are all great teams. Obviously Houston is a class act, amazing program, Hall of Fame head coach, super, super tough student-athletes. Our guys knew that it wasn't going to be easy. Didn't panic when it got tough. "As Will talked about, they did a great job of never getting too high, never getting too low. When we went down 12 in the second half, we stayed the course. We didn't point fingers, didn't start to try to make hero plays, gambling defensively. We got rewarded because of that toughness that we displayed." On Florida's mental toughness "We've gotten a lot of credit for our offense because we've been so explosive all year, been one of if not the top two offenses in America all year. We've been a top-10 defense all year also. We've been able to stand up against really good offensive teams and find a way to get stops. I thought Houston got the better of us in the first half. "It was really just a disparity in the turnover count. We had nine, I think they had two in the first half. As I look here, we had four in the second, they had seven. Our defense won us the game tonight. We got nine straight stops in the middle of the second half. "We held them scoreless the last 2:20. Walter, great closeout, and Condo, great hustle play to win the game. That's what made this team special all year, that we can win different ways, and we showed that again tonight." On youngest coach since Billy Donovan to win "I mean, I'm super proud, obviously. But I'm just a piece of this puzzle. I've been able to put together an incredible staff and recruit great student-athletes over these last three years. We've stayed the course all year and worked really hard. My best answer is I'm just really proud. I'm proud to be the head coach of Florida. I'm proud of the way our players performed. I'm proud of the way our staff prepared our guys to become national champions." On Houston's four turnovers in final 80 seconds "Down the stretch, we just made some big-time winning plays defensively. It's all kind of cloudy and a blur, but the one that sticks out is when I believe it was Sharp drove right off the right lane line, and Will was guarding somebody in the corner, ripped and stripped right off his leg with a minute 10 or a minute to go. That was a huge play for us. "Then the last play was just absolutely an amazing play. Walter recovered, closed out, as he said, flew by his right side to not allow himself to foul. Sharp made a heady -- he understood he couldn't touch the ball or else it would have been a turnover. Then Condo did what he does a lot, which is get physical, dive on the floor, make a winning play, getting on that loose ball. "I think there was 18 seconds or so on that last possession. We guarded 'em hard. I saw the ball loose. I was just hoping that we beat them to the ball. When Condo got on the floor, I figured it was either going to be a jump ball or we were going to come away with it. Next thing I knew, game was over. Just an incredible moment and something I won't forget." On clash of differing styles "I was definitely concerned. They were dictating the tempo. We want to get out in transition. We were not able to, especially in the first half. I don't think we have any fast-break points. When we're at our best, we're getting stops, clean rebounds, getting out and running in transition, finding baskets. That was concerning. But at halftime just looking at the numbers, the only thing that really stood out that was a big issue was our turnovers. I thought we had such uncharacteristic turnovers. "I thought some of those, majority of those nine turnovers were not forced. They were just either poor decisions or being sped up offensively. We just needed to kind of calm down. Obviously Houston is the best defensive team in America by the numbers. We knew it wasn't going to be easy to score on them. We weren't able to get up and down much in the second half. We were able to knock down our free throws and we just took much better care of the basketball." Thought process being down 12 "The biggest thing from my perspective is I just didn't feel like we had much control of the game. I thought Houston was controlling tempo, I thought they were controlling with their physicality. There was an interesting technical call on our bench that I thought was an issue we had to battle through. It was our defense. It was stops. It was finding a way to be able to get some run-outs. As we talked about, we didn't get a lot of transition, but we were able to break and get a couple. "Walt saw the ball go through the net with some free throws and the and-one layup. I thought that loosened him up a little bit. After that we were starting to get some good stuff, hit some shots, get downhill and get to the foul line. We were able to flip the game and the momentum a little bit. Obviously incredibly challenging to do against an opponent like Houston. But we're pretty dang good also and we found a way to do it." Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Men's March Madness: Gator Nation reacts to Florida's 2025 NCAA Championship win v Houston
The wait is over. After 18 years, Florida basketball is back on top and March Madness has finally come to an end. Following a heart-stopping 65-63 victory over the Houston Cougars in the 2025 NCAA Tournament Finals, the Florida Gators have won their third national championship in program history. Advertisement It was gritty. It was low-scoring, but the Gators held off Houston in a game that lived up to every bit of the hype. From being down by three points at halftime to a clutch second-half surge, Todd Golden's squad showed resilience like they had all season long. Will Richard led the Gators with 18 points with four massive threes that kept Florida in striking distance. While Walter Clayton Jr. didn't have one of his usual shooting nights, he contributed with a team-high seven assists as well as a game-sealing defensive effort in the final seconds of the game. Gator Nation exploded online–and the reaction was exactly what you'd expect from a fan base starving for another taste of glory. Here are some of the top posts from X, formerly known as Twitter, after the game. Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions. This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Men's March Madness: Gator Nation react to NCAA Finals win vs Houston
