College GameDay to Visit Gainesville in Back-to-Back Years

Florida Gators basketball is already back-to-back winners in something, at least.

For the second consecutive season, ESPN College GameDay will visit Gainesville on Saturday ahead of No. 7 Florida’s bout with No. 20 Arkansas. It’ll be the Gators’ 11th appearance in the GameDay featured matchup, and their seventh time hosting it. 

Florida will join Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Kentucky in the top five most frequent sites for GameDay with this latest appearance. 

GameDay’s last visit to the O’Connell Center was March 1, 2025, when No. 3 Florida hosted No. 12 Texas A&M. Former guard and current Golden State Warrior Will Richard led the way to an 89-70 win for the Gators, scoring 25 points on a 9-for-13 clip, including six 3-pointers. 

Sixth-man forward Thomas Haugh started that game, as his fellow forward and roommate Alex Condon was coming off the bench recovering from a low-ankle sprain. Haugh was the second leading scorer with 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting in 31 minutes. 

The Gators are 8-2 overall in GameDay featured games. Its first appearance was on Feb. 4, 2006, when Florida played host and won 95-80 against Kentucky. Taurean Green and Joakim Noah dominated the Wildcats, scoring 29 and 26 points, respectively. Florida won its first national championship that same season. 

In their second appearance on Feb. 10, 2007, the Gators won a close battle at Kentucky 64-61, and won their second national championship later on. 

Florida’s first loss in a GameDay game was a 79-63 loss against Tennessee at The Summitt in 2009, and its second was a 68-61 loss against Kentucky in 2015. 

The Gators have actually faced the Wildcats eight times in GameDay featured games (so 7-1 against college basketball’s winningest program isn’t too shabby). The matchup against Arkansas will only be its third battle against a different opponent. 

Florida faces Texas on the road on Wednesday. Last time Florida played a game prior to its appearance on GameDay, it lost 88-83 at Georgia. Coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN 103.7 HD2, and 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

The GameDay fun follows on Saturday when the Gators face the Razorbacks, with coverage starting at 8 p.m. on ESPN 103.7 HD2 and 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Category: College Basketball, Gator Sports, Gators Men's Basketball