TAMPA, Fla. — Back in March, Florida’s men’s basketball season ended in Tampa. This season, it will start in Tampa.
On Monday, Nov. 2, the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic will be held at Benchmark International Arena, with four in-state teams battling it out to begin the college basketball season. Florida will face Miami, and Florida State will take on Florida A&M in a Sunshine State doubleheader.
“Obviously, Benchmark’s a great arena, one that is used in the NCAA tournament, so to be able to come and play some games here, we feel like it’s great preparation for the long haul of the season. And to be back in Benchmark to open the year is really exciting,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said.
The Gators were the top seed in the South Region and had a ton of fans at the Bench for the first and second rounds of March Madness. But after beating Prairie View A&M in the first round, Golden’s team was stunned by No. 8 seed Iowa in the Round of 32.
Now, they have an opportunity to flush that loss by playing in the exact same arena to start this upcoming season.
“Yeah, we’ve only lost once in here, but it was obviously a very important game, one that will be remembered,” Golden said. “But yeah, I think our program and our team, they’re excited to get back here, exercise those demons and try to breakthrough in that game against Miami to open the season.”
The good news for Gators fans is that they return most of the team that played in that game. Their star-studded frontcourt of Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu is all back, along with point guard Boogie Fland.
“We’re incredibly excited. Our ability to retain most of our players and get them to come back and exhaust their eligibility was super exciting,” Golden said. “We have great continuity, and in this day and age in college basketball, that’s more important than anything else and we have some hungry driven dudes because of how last year ended.”
They also bring Denzel Aberdeen back to Gainesville, a member of the 2025 national championship team who transferred to play at Kentucky last season. Put that all together, and they are the likely preseason No. 1 team in the country.
Miami is expected to be ranked in the preseason top 25 after making the NCAA tournament last season in Year 1 under Jai Lucas. FSU and FAMU have passionate fanbases as well, so we should see a packed house for the Orion180 Tip-Off.
“You couldn’t ask for better matchups in the state of Florida, so whether it’s people coming down from Tallahassee, coming down from Jacksonville, we hope to bring a big contingent from Gainesville,” Golden said. “And we want Miami to bring fans from there as well, so when you look at the different pockets of the state and everyone will be in a central location on opening night, my hope would be that a lot of fans will turn out.”
This event will begin Florida’s pursuit of a second national title in the last three seasons.
Michael Epps
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