Gators will face rugged non-conference schedule – GatorSports.com

10:03 pm | July 11, 2018 | Go to Source | Author: gatorsports

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Special to Gatorsports.com

The Florida men’s basketball team will once again navigate one of the nation’s toughest schedules in the 2018-19 season.

Including SEC play, Florida already has 12 games scheduled against nine of CBS Sports’ early Top 25, potentially adding more at the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis.

“Our players and our fans deserve this kind of schedule,” UF coach Mike White said. “It’s challenging, of course, but we look at it as a bunch of great opportunities. We know we’ll have to be ready for a battle every single night, which we expect to help prepare us for SEC play.”

The Gators’ Fresh From Florida Sunshine Showdown with in-state rival Florida State opens the season for the first time since 2000, as UF travels to Tallahassee to meet the Seminoles on Nov. 6.

Games against Michigan State and Butler highlight the Gators’ home slate. Florida squares off against Charleston Southern in its home opener Nov. 9 and also takes on La Salle, North Florida and Mercer at home.

Florida has a meeting with West Virginia at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic, as well as its annual visit south for the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Fla. UF’s Orange Bowl opponent will be confirmed once it becomes official.