‘It’s Just Basketball’: Inside Liv McGill’s Historic Rise at Florida

Florida basketball star Liv McGill finds a way to lead. Years ago as a player at Hopkins High School (Minneapolis, Minnesota), McGill sat on the bench with a foot injury. That did not stop her from making her presence felt.

“I had to ask her, ‘Can you please go down to the end of the bench?’ Because she wouldn’t shut up,” her high school coach Tara Starks said.

That same drive has followed her to Gainesville, where it has helped McGill develop into one of the best players in the country during a historic sophomore season.

After a standout freshman year, expectations for McGill were high entering 2025-26. The 5-foot-9 guard responded with a record-breaking campaign. McGill finished the regular season averaging 22.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.2 assists while shooting 44 percent from the field. 

She also averaged nearly three steals per game. The former five-star and highest rated recruit in program history ranks eighth nationally in scoring and 12th in assists. She distinguished herself as one of only three players in the country averaging at least 20 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Florida coach Kelly Rae Finley pointed out that kind of leap is never easy.

“That jump to sophomore year is the hardest in college basketball,” Finley said. “You go from new and fresh, and now the scout is about you.”

Named to the preseason All-SEC Second Team in October, McGill continued to make strides. Her performance earned her a spot on the All-SEC First Team Tuesday, a major honor in the gauntlet that is the SEC, which holds half of the AP Top 10 teams.

“Liv’s a winner,” Finley observed. “Gator Nation is extremely blessed to have a point guard of her caliber.”

“Opposing defenses centered their game plans around stopping McGill. It rarely worked. 

She scored in double figures in 31 straight games during the season. In February, McGill broke Florida’s single-season scoring record, surpassing the previous mark of 631 set by Tonya Washington during the 1999-2000 season. She also reached the 1,000-point milestone in January and now, in only her second season, sits 20th in program history with 1,258 career points.

Despite the growing recognition, McGill has stayed focused on her teammates.

“Florida Gator Nation supports me a lot,” she said. “Whether I score or not, I know my teammates are going to have my back.”

McGill dominated right away this season. Over the first two games, she totaled 64 points, 17 rebounds, 19 assists and 12 steals. The only other NBA, WNBA or Division I player this century to record at least 60 points, 15 rebounds, 15 assists and 10 steals across a two-game span was Dwyane Wade in 2009, according to OptaStats.

That early run earned McGill USBWA National Player of the Week honors and SEC Player of the Week recognition. In November, McGill led Florida to the Cayman Islands Classic title and the tournament’s most outstanding player award after averaging 27 points.

Despite being left off the preseason list, the former McDonald’s All-American was later named one of 10 players on the Nancy Lieberman Award midseason watch list, which honors the nation’s top point guard.

For Starks, McGill’s rise is no surprise after years of watching her live in the gym at Hopkins High.

“When you work like that, you don’t stay at one place,” Starks said. “You continue to rise.”

Despite the impressive array of honors and accolades, McGill made her season about more than just stats. She has also grown into a leader for a Florida team that features several freshmen and international players.

“Where I’ve been most impressed is her willingness to learn and develop as a leader and what it takes to move an entire group of people,” Finley said. “That’s what leadership at the point guard position looks like.”

McGill said she prioritized that kind of role throughout the season.

“I’ve been working on helping my teammates,” McGill said. “Contributing in different ways and just knowing each teammate needs my help and trying to inspire them.”

Her leadership remains rooted in her own experiences.

“I know how it feels to be in their shoes,” she said. “I’m trying to be the best leader I can to let them know that you got this. It’s just basketball at the end of the day.”

Her former coach believes that approach has defined McGill since middle school.

“Liv always brought this infectious energy to practice and games,” Starks said. “She always talked, always lifted people up and always had everybody’s back.”

As Florida prepares for the SEC Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina, McGill will once again lead the Gators onto the floor. Florida opens play Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. against Mississippi State.

Starks believes McGill’s rise is only beginning.

“I believe her ceiling is even higher than what it is now,” Starks said.

Finley sees the same thing.

“Her best basketball is still ahead of her,” Finley said.

Category: College Basketball, Feature Sports News, Gators Women's Basketball, SEC, Women's College Basketball