Florida Gators Men's Basketball Tickets

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Florida Gators Men's Basketball History

The first tip-off for the Gators was in 1915, when C. J. McCoy was head coach of both the men's basketball and football programs at the school. The University of Florida was a founding member of the Southeastern Conference in 1932. It wasn't until after Florida built their current indoor sports facility, the O'Connell Center, in 1980, that the Gators played in their first NCAA tournament in 1987.

Under the Gators’ first full-time basketball coach Norm Sloan, Florida qualified for six consecutive postseason matchups, with three appearances in the NIT and March Madness tournaments apiece between 1984 and 1989. Sloan’s tenure also delivered a run to the Sweet Sixteen during the school’s first NCAA tournament berth in 1987 and their first SEC regular season championship in 1989.

From 1996 to 2015, head coach Billy Donovan led the Gators to nine straight NCAA Tournaments starting in 1999, plus six regular season conference championships, four SEC tournament championships, four Final Four appearances and two NCAA championships, in 2006 and 2007. The Florida Gators men’s basketball team won their third national championship as well as their fifth SEC tournament championship in 2025.

More than two dozen Florida Gators have gone on to become professional basketball players in the NBA. The Gators have a long-running in-state rivalry with the Florida State Seminoles, and their annual contest is the only out-of-conference game for both of the two oldest college teams in the state.

University of Florida Gators Team Info

Conference: SEC
Team Colors: Orange and blue
Team Rivals: Miami, Florida State, South Carolina, Kentucky

University of Florida Gators Men's Basketball at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center

Florida plays in the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center (nicknamed the "O'Dome" by students), which opened in 1980 and was most recently renovated in 2016. The arena currently seats 10,500 and hosts Florida's other sports, including women's basketball, gymnastics, volleyball, swimming and diving, as well as being the largest concert venue in North Central Florida.