Florida basketball released its 2021-2022 non-conference schedule Thursday, as the Gators hope to improve upon their second-round NCAA tournament finish.
The team begins its season Nov. 9 against Elon.
UF gets Florida State at home next, a team the Gators have not defeated since 2013. They were beating the Seminoles early on last December until forward Keyontae Johnson collapsed. Johnson is currently with the team but not practicing while he awaits medical news. In the meantime, he prepares to host a basketball camp July 23-24 via the new NIL rules.
The team travels to the Fort Myers Tipoff on Nov. 22 and 24 to play two of California, Ohio State and Seton Hall in a four-team tournament.
Head coach Mike White and his squad sandwich this first trip of the season with contests against UW-Milwaukee Nov. 18 and Troy Nov. 28.
Returning forward Colin Castleton and the Gators fly west on Dec. 1 to take on Oklahoma in their first game of their home-and home-series.
Two Sundays later, Florida plays the preseason 19th ranked Maryland Terrapins in Brooklyn, New York.
The Gators make the trip south to play South Florida in Sunrise on Dec. 18.
Florida plays three home games in December: Texas Southern on Dec. 6, North Florida on Dec. 8 and Stony Brook on Dec. 22.
Florida concludes its non-conference schedule against Oklahoma State as part of the 2022 Big 12-SEC Showdown on Jan. 22, which features ten games between the two conferences.
The 2021-2022 season will be White’s seventh with the Gators. The squad features four new transfers, including former Penn State guard Myreon Jones, who averaged 15.3 points a game a year ago. Rivals five-star signee Kowacie Reeves arrived on campus too and will begin his college career.
Castleton, guard Tyree Appleby and forward Anthony Duruji return as three consistent starters. Scottie Lewis and Tre Mann declared for the NBA Draft while several others transferred.
Stay tuned for coverage on Florida’s regular-season SEC schedule.
Contact Julianna Reichenbach at jreichenbach@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @Julianna_Reich
