Men's Basketball Releases Non-Conference Schedule; Season Tickets On Sale
Monday, July 27, 2009 | Men's Basketball
A neutral site game against 2009 national runner-up Michigan State, home games with NCAA Tournament teams Florida State and Xavier, and an appearance in the SEC/Big East Challenge vs. Syracuse in Tampa are among highlights of a challenging non-conference schedule facing the University of Florida basketball team in 2009-10.
Five of the games against postseason competition, including three with 2009 NCAA Tournament squads, are among the nine-game non-conference home slate (not counting two exhibition contests). Season tickets are also now on sale at the Gator Ticket Office and renewals have gone out to existing season ticket holders.
“This is as challenging a non-conference schedule as I can remember us having,“ said head coach Billy Donovan. “It's a great mix of getting some experience playing high level teams on neutral courts and getting a few really good road games in, but also being able to bring a number of high caliber opponents to Gainesville for our fans, that part was really important to us as well. This schedule will definitely challenge us and prepare us for our conference season.”
The Gators will face 2009 NCAA runner-up Michigan State on either Nov. 27 or 28, as part of the Legend's Classic at venerable Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. The Gators will also face either Massachusetts or Rutgers in Atlantic City.
Florida State makes its bi-annual visit to the O'Connell Center on Nov. 24, breaking from the traditional model of the night before the UF-FSU football game. Sweet 16 participant Xavier makes its first ever trip to Gainesville on Feb. 13. The Musketeers have been to four straight NCAA Tournaments and since 2004 have been to the Elite Eight twice as well as last year's Sweet 16 showing.
After a pair of exhibition games with St. Leo University (Nov. 2) and Webber International (Nov. 9), the Gators open the 2009-10 season at home against Stetson on Nov. 15. They will then host the first two rounds of the Legend's Classic at the O'Connell Center against Georgia Southern on Nov. 18 and Troy on Nov. 20. Troy received a postseason invite to the College Basketball Invitational last year and finished 14-4 in the competitive Sun Belt Conference.
Prior to heading to Atlantic City for the conclusion of the Legend's Classic, the Gators host Florida State on Nov. 24. Florida will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak to the Seminoles, and for its first win in the series since 2005.
After its Thanksgiving weekend trip to Atlantic City, the Gators return home for a game with Florida A&M on Dec. 1 before taking to the road for a game at Jacksonville on Dec. 4. It will be a rematch of last year's NIT opener, won by the Gators, and their first road game at JU since opening the 2004-05 season with a win over the Dolphins.
On Dec. 10 Florida makes its first appearance in the SEC/Big East Invitational in Tampa, facing 2009 NCAA participant Syracuse (www.secbigeastinvitational.com for ticket information). The event will be held at the St. Pete Times Forum and will also feature Mississippi State vs. DePaul prior to the Gators' game. Florida and Syracuse will be meeting for the third time in five years with the Gators having defeated the Orangemen in the 2005 Coaches vs. Cancer title game, while Syracuse won last year at the CBE Classic in Kansas City.
The Gators return to the Orange Bowl Classic (www.OrangeBowl.org for ticket information) for the fourth year in a row, facing CBI participant Richmond at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. The Spiders return a bulk of the pieces of a squad that 20 games a year ago and finished with nine wins in the competitive Atlantic-10 Conference.
Dec. 22 will be a rematch of the 2006 NCAA Tournament opener for the Gators, as South Alabama comes to the O'Connell Center. The Jaguars finished 20-13 a year ago.
Florida will be tested right off the bat following the Christmas break as American, an NCAA Tournament team that finished 24-8 a year ago, visits on Dec. 28. American gave Final Four participant Villanova a scare in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
After a home game with Presbyterian on Dec. 30, the Gators take to the road on Jan. 3 in a return trip to North Carolina State. The two teams played a thriller in Gainesville a year ago, in which UF rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to win, 68-66.
Florida will close out non-conference play on Feb. 13 in the highly anticipated match-up with Xavier. It is the first time the Gators will play a non-conference game during the conference season since 2003.
Times and television schedule for all non-conference games will be announced later.
The conference schedule will be released at a later date. The Gators will have home dates with usual SEC East opponents Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Georgia, as well as West opponents LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn. In addition to traveling to all of the East opponents, UF has road games at Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss.
For more information regarding season tickets, contact the Gator Ticket Office at 352-375-4683, x6800 or visit www.Gatorzone.com.
| 2009-10 University of Florida Non-Conference Schedule | ||
| Date | Opponent | Site |
| November | ||
| 2 | St. Leo University (Exh.) | Gainesville, Fla. |
| 9 | Webber International (Exh.) | Gainesville, Fla. |
| 15 | Stetson | Gainesville, Fla. |
| 18 | Georgia Southern# | Gainesville, Fla. |
| 20 | Troy# | Gainesville, Fla. |
| 24 | Florida State | Gainesville, Fla. |
| 27 | Michigan State/UMass or Rutgers | Atlantic City, N.J. |
| 28 | Michigan State/UMass or Rutgers | Atlantic City, N.J. |
| December | ||
| 1 | Florida A&M | Gainesville, Fla. |
| 4 | Jacksonville | Jacksonville, Fla. |
| 10 | Syracuse% | Tampa, Fla. |
| 19 | Richmond@ | Sunrise, Fla. |
| 22 | South Alabama | Gainesville, Fla. |
| 28 | American | Gainesville, Fla. |
| 30 | Presbyterian | Gainesville, Fla. |
| January | ||
| 3 | North Carolina State | Raleigh, N.C. |
| February | ||
| 13 | Xavier | Gainesville, Fla. |
