Wednesday, November 4, 2026 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
No. 1 Florida vs. Jacksonville
- When: Thursday, 8 p.m. (ET)
- Where: O'Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
- Records: Florida (1-0) / Jacksonville (1-0)
- Series/Last meeting: Florida leads 33-3. The Gators defeated the Dolphins 81-60 on Nov. 7, 2024 behind 15 points from sophomore forward Alex Condon.
- TV: SEC Network+ (Ryan Urquhart and Mark Wise)
- Radio: Gator Sports Network (Stations list) with Sean Kelley, Brian Hogan and Steve Egan
- Ticket info
Projected Starters
Florida
| Player | Pos. | Ht / Wt | Class | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Condon | F | 6-11 / 236 | Sr | 11.0 pts / 7.0 reb |
| Rueben Chinyelu | C | 6-10 / 265 | Sr | 6.0 pts / 14.0 reb |
| Thomas Haugh | F | 6-9 / 215 | Sr | 19.0 pts / 10.0 reb, 4.0 ast |
| Denzel Aberdeen | G | 6-5 / 190 | 5th | 7.0 pts / 2.0 ast |
| Boogie Fland | G | 6-3 / 185 | Jr | 12.0 pts / 4.0 ast / 4.0 stl |
Florida Cumulative Stats
Jacksonville
| Player | Pos. | Ht / Wt | Class | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Morrow | F | 6-8 / NA | Sr | 12.0 pts / 5.0 blx |
| Sam Mbingazo | C | 6-9 / NA | Fr | 3.0 pts / 8.0 reb |
| Hayden Wood | G | 6-6 / 205 | So | 11.0 pts / 6.0 reb |
| Jamie Phillips Jr. | G | 6-5/ NA | Jr | 18.0 pts / 2.0 reb |
| Caleb Williams | G | 6-0 / NA | Jr | 10.0 pts / 6.0 reb / 6.0 ast |
The Setup
- Florida and Jacksonville meet in what for the Gators will represent their 2026-27 home opener as well as a second game in as many in this young season against a cross-state opponent. The game will be back the back end of a men's and women's double-header, with UF's women taking on UCF in the first game, starting at 4:30 p.m.
- UF, voted by The Associated Press as the nation's preseason No. 1 team for the second time in program history (2006), is coming off a physical, feel-good 77-67 defeat Monday night of 14th-ranked Miami in Tampa. The Dolphins debuted that same night with a 105-61 spanking of Trinity Christian Academy of Jacksonville, which competes in the second division of the National Christian College Athletic Association. The Gators have won five straight in the series, dating to 2011.
- The Gators have won 35 consecutive home openers, dating to the 1991-92 season. Their last loss came Nov. 27, 1991, by a 76-74 count against No. 22 Texas, then a member of the Southwest Conference.
Tale of the Tape
| Florida | Statistics | Jacksonville |
|---|---|---|
| 77.0 | Scoring | 105.0 |
| .434 | Field-goal percentage | .595 |
| .423 | 3-point percentage | .375 |
| 67.0 | Scoring defense | 61.0 |
| .350 | Field-goal percentage defense | .286 |
| .235 | 3-point percentage defense | .300 |
| 2nd | KenPom.com overall ranking | *227th |
| 2nd | KenPom.com offensive efficiency | *203rd |
| 3rd | KenPom.com defensive efficiency | *22nd |
| 51st | KenPom.com adjusted tempo | *351st |
| NA | NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking | NA |
| 28th | Overall strength of schedule ranking | 243rd |
The Breakdown
About the Gators
- They bounced back from two lackluster exhibition games in a big way with the performance against a Miami team picked to finish near the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference. UF went ahead for good midway through the first half and led for the remaining 31-plus minutes. Miami closed within two early in the second half, only to have the Gators pull away again by double digits again and close out.
- UF shot only 43% for the game, hitting just one of its last eight field-goal attempts, and struggled to a 20-for-35 performance at the free-throw line (57.1), with nine second-half misses. Defensively, though, the Gators were outstanding in limiting the Hurricanes to 35% overall, just 4-for-17 from the arc (23.5%) and 31 second-half points, including one 1-for-19 stretch.
- Preseason All-America forward Thomas Haugh made four of eight from the 3-point line on his way to 19 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. Point guard Boogie Fland missed all six of his two-point shots, but nailed two of three from 3 on his way to 12 points, four assists and four steals. Center Rueben Chinyelu had 14 rebounds.
- The Gators bench, after combining for only seven points in two exhibition games, pitched in 24 points, led by nine from 2026 SEC Sixth Man of the Year Urban Klavzar, but also seven points and three boards by junior Isaiah Brown and six points, three rebounds from 6-9 first-year forward Domen Petrovic, from Slovenia.
- UF was actually out-scored in the paint by Hurricanes (26-22) and out-rebounded on the offensive ends (13-12). The Gators made up for it on defense, though, limiting UM's two preseason All-ACC players, forwards Malik Reneau and Shelton Henderson, to a combined 3-for-19 shooting and 12 points. The duo averaged nearly 34 a game last season.
About the Dolphins
- It's their sixth season under Jordan Mincy, who was a UF assistant alongside Mike White for six seasons before JU came calling in 2021. Mincy has an 81-77 record that includes two winning seasons (21-10 in '21-22 and 19-14 in '24-25), including a 41-45 mark in the Atlantic Sun Conference, with one postseason berth. He guided the team to the '25 CBI quarterfinals.
- JU returns two starters from a team that went 12-20 overall and 7-11 in league play, the worst record of Mincy's tenure. The Dolphins got a big lift when guard Hayden Wood, named to the A-Sun All-Freshman team last season, chose to bypass transfer portal interest from bigger schools to return for his sophomore year. Wood averaged 11.8 points and shot 37.7% from 3 last season, saving his best for last when he averaged 21.0 points over the final five games. The other starter back is point guard Evan Sterck, who has taken a backup role on a better and deeper team.
- Two years ago, guard Jamie Phillips Jr. was an A-Sun All-Freshman selection at Stetson. He was limited to 20 games due to injury in '25-26, transferred to Jacksonville and garnered preseason all-league honors.
- They weren't tested in the Monday opener and didn't play front-line guys a lot, with 10 players logging double-digit minutes, 14 players checking in and the bench scoring 51 points. Phillips led his team with 18 points, with Wood adding in 11. The Dolphins won the rebound battle 38-13.
Numbers of Note
* 7 — Points scored by shooting guard Denzel Aberdeen against Miami in his first official game since transferring back to Florida after a season at Kentucky. Aberdeen, who averaged 13.3 points with the Wildcats last season, was three of nine from the floor and missed all four of his 3-pointers over 30 minutes, but was credited with some outstanding perimeter defense.
* 2014 — The last year the Gators played on their home floor as the nation's No. 1-ranked team. UF made history that day when the winningest class ever to come through the program -- Scottie Wilbekin, Patric Young, Casey Prather and Will Yeguete -- celebrated their "Senior Day" and final appearance at the O'Dome by defeating Kentucky 84-65 to complete the first 18-0 regular season in SEC history on the way to the Final Four.
Bottom Line
Gators have lost just once at home in each of the last three seasons under Golden, with a 43-3 mark at the O'Dome since the start of the '23-24 campaign.Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Catch up on the Gators with more of his stories on FloridaGators.com.
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