The 2025–26 Florida Gators men's basketball team represented the University of Florida during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Gators, led by fourth-year head coach Todd Golden, played their home games at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida as members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They entered the season as the defending National Champions.
Previous season The Gators finished the 2024–25 season with a regular season record, finishing second in the most difficult SEC season in conference history. The Gators got off to a hot start when they finished non-conference play with a record and No. 6 ranking in the AP Poll, which was their highest ranking in 7 years. Despite early losses to Kentucky and Missouri, Florida got hot and finished the regular season winning 9 of their last 10 games. During this stretch, they pulled off massive wins on the road against No. 1 Auburn and No. 7 Alabama. Led by Clayton Jr. and Alex Condon, Florida was able to beat a No. 1 team on the road for the first time in program history.
As the No. 2 seed in the SEC tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, they defeated Missouri, 95–81, in the quarterfinals and Alabama, 104–82, in the semifinals to advance to the SEC Championship, where they defeated Tennessee, 86–77, to clinch their first SEC championship since 2014. They received an automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West region. They defeated Norfolk State, 95–69, in the first round, two-time defending national champions UConn, 77–75, in the second round, and Maryland, 87–71, in the Sweet Sixteen to advance to the Elite Eight. There, they defeated Texas Tech, 84–79, to advance to their first Final Four since 2014. They would then defeat SEC rival Auburn, 79–73, to advance to their first championship since 2007. In the championship game, they overcame a 12-point deficit late in the second half to beat Houston, 65–63, to clinch their third national title overall and their first since 2007.
Offseason Departures Florida departures Walter Clayton Jr. 1 G 6'3" 195 Graduate Student Lake Wales, FL Graduated/2025 NBA draft; selected 18th overall by Washington Wizards, but ultimately got traded to the Utah Jazz Kevin Pazmino 2 G 6'4" 195 Sophomore Weston, FL Walk-on; TBD Sam Alexis 4 F 6'8" 240 Junior Apopka, FL Transferred to Indiana Will Richard 5 G 6'4" 206 Senior Fairburn, GA Graduated/2025 NBA draft; selected 56th overall by Memphis Grizzlies, but ultimately got traded to the Golden State Warriors Denzel Aberdeen 11 G 6'5" 190 Junior Orlando, FL Transferred to Kentucky Alijah Martin 15 G 6'2" 210 Graduate Student Summit, MS Graduated/2025 NBA draft; selected 39th overall by Toronto Raptors Bennett Andersen 22 G 6'2" 190 Graduate Student Tampa, FL Walk-on; graduated Kajus Kublickas 30 G 6'2" 180 Sophomore Kaunas, Lithuania Transferred to Pacific
Incoming transfers Florida incoming transfers Boogie Fland 0 G 6'2" 175 Sophomore Bronx, NY Arkansas Xaivian Lee 1 G 6'4" 180 Senior Toronto, ON Princeton AJ Brown 23 G 6'4" 210 Junior Orlando, FL Ohio Alex Kovatchev 8 G 6'5" 195 Sophomore Perth, Australia Sacramento State
2025 recruiting class
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=""| Non-conference regular season
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!colspan=12 style=""| NCAA tournament
Source:
Game summaries This section will be filled in as the season progresses.
Source:
No. 13 Arizona (Hall of Fame Series - Las Vegas)
vs North Florida
vs Florida State (Rivalry)
Miami (FL) (Jacksonville Hoops Showdown)
vs Merrimack
TCU (Rady Children's Invitational semifinals)
Providence (Rady Children's Inviational 3rd Place Game)
at Duke (ACC–SEC Challenge)
UConn (Jimmy V Classic)
George Washington (Orange Bowl Classic)
vs Saint Francis
vs Colgate
vs Dartmouth
at Missouri
vs Georgia
vs Tennessee
at Oklahoma
at Vanderbilt
vs LSU
vs Auburn
at South Carolina
vs Alabama
at Texas A&M
at Georgia
Rankings
References