With an SEC regular-season title secured, No. 5 Florida is shifting its focus to the postseason.
The SEC Tournament begins March 11 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, with 15 games across five days. Florida comes into the competition as the No. 1 seed in the bracket, meaning it will advance straight through the first two rounds and into the quarterfinals.
“We’re really well-connected right now, and we’re playing some good basketball,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said.
Here’s a preview of the opponents the Gators could face as they look to win back-to-back SEC Tournament titles for the first time since 2005 to 2007, when they won three in a row.
Quarterfinals: March 13, 1 p.m.
Florida will start its play at the SEC Tournament on Friday at 1 p.m. against either No. 16 LSU, No. 9 Kentucky or No. 8 Missouri. Of these potential opponents, Kentucky or Missouri are the most likely to play the Gators.
If Florida were to play Kentucky, it would be the third meeting between the two this season. The Gators took both games, one in Gainesville and the other in Lexington, Kentucky, by single digits. While these two games were part of Florida’s 11-game winning streak to end the season, they were the only games during this span to be decided by less than 10 points.
The Gators ended their season on the road against the Wildcats on March 7, escaping with a win. After taking a 20-point lead with over nine minutes left in the second half, Kentucky came back to cut its deficit to five with 19.2 seconds left. However, the Gators came out on top 84-77.
“We just got too complacent,” said Florida junior forward Thomas Haugh after the game. “Had the big lead and kind of thought it was going to be over. It can’t be that way, especially in March Madness when anything can happen.”
Senior guard Otega Oweh leads the attack for Kentucky, averaging 18.2 points per game. In March 7’s contest, he led all scorers with 28 points on 8-of-21 shooting.
Former Gator Denzel Aberdeen followed in pursuit, averaging 12.9 points and a team-high 3.5 assists per game. Against Florida in Gainesville on Feb. 14, the senior guard recorded 19 points on 8-of-21 shooting. Then, in March 7’s game in Lexington, he scored 15 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
Missouri also brings a threat to Florida if the two were to meet in the tournament.
The Tigers handed the Gators their only road loss during conference play on Jan. 3, where UF fell short 76-74 in Columbia, Missouri. A key reason for this loss was that the Tigers tied Florida on the boards with 37 apiece, marking the first time the Gators did not outrebound their opponent since their season-opening loss to Arizona on Nov. 3.
"That's an area that we've been really good all year and generally gaining advantage," Golden said after the Jan. 3 game. "Didn't do it tonight."
Mark Mitchell leads Missouri with 17.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. He comes into the tournament fresh off of a season-high 32-point outing against No. 20 Arkansas on Saturday. Behind him, Jayden Stone averages 13.5 points per game; however, he was held to 9 points on 3-of-8 shooting against UF.
Whether it's Kentucky or Missouri, these two teams would provide a test for Florida to move on to the semifinals.
Semifinals: March 14, 1 p.m.
If the Gators win their first game at the tournament, they will move into the semifinals and play either the 13, 12, 5 or 4 seed. The two teams favored to advance to play Florida or another opponent are Tennessee (5) and Vanderbilt (4). With the tournament taking place in Nashville, either of these two will have an implied home-court advantage.
Florida and Tennessee met in last year’s tournament championship game. Fueled by Walter Clayton Jr.’s 22 points, the Gators took the contest 86-77.
This season, Florida’s win against then-No. 21 Tennessee on Jan. 10 was a turning point for the Gators, who defeated the Volunteers 91-67. Florida’s Boogie Fland had his best performance of the season with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting and five assists.
“It was a step in the right direction,” Fland said postgame. “I feel like that little slump tests you mentally, but you've got to be ready for basketball, the ups and downs is going to come with it, and life in general.”
Like Florida, Tennessee is one of the better defensive teams in the SEC, leading the conference in opponent 3-point percentage (30.8%) and points per game (69.4). The Volunteers are also holding their opponents to a second-best in the conference, 41.1% shooting from the field.
On Jan. 17, Florida defeated Vanderbilt, but in a much tighter contest. At the Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Xaivian Lee’s clutch step-back 3-pointer gave the Gators a 95-94 lead with 45 seconds left. UF went on to take down the then-No. 10 Commodores 98-94.
“I try to shoot every shot with confidence, whether they going in or not," Lee said postgame. "Late-clock. I think Rueben and Condo were down low and really didn’t have much space to go by them. I just thought, ‘Got to go up.’”
Vanderbilt has a trio of scorers to lead its team, starting with Tyler Tanner, who is averaging 19.2 points per outing. Against Florida, Tanner recorded 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Duke Miles follows with 15.9 points per game. He put up 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting against UF.
Finally, Tyler Nickel averages 13.9 points per contest. However, he enters the tournament with back-to-back single-digit scoring performances, marking the first time he’s failed to score 10 or more points in back-to-back games this season.
Championship: March 15, 1 p.m.
If the Gators make it to the tournament championship game, which would mark the third year in a row for UF, they would face any of the other potential opponents not mentioned previously, with No. 2 seed Alabama and No. 3 seed Arkansas the other most likely teams to reach this game.
More recently, Florida toppled Arkansas 111-77 on Feb. 28, tying head coach John Calipari’s largest defeat as a head coach. This win also secured a share of the SEC regular-season title for the Gators, their first since 2014.
Darius Acuff Jr., who is the SEC Player of the Year favorite, leads the conference with 22.2 points per game. He’s scored 20 or more points in 10 of his last 11 outings, with Florida holding the freshman to 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting.
“Acuff has been fantastic,” Golden said on Feb. 27. “Phenomenal. Shown a lot of toughness in being a freshman and producing the way he has has been really impressive.”
Overall, Arkansas leads the conference in field goal percentage (50.3%) and 3-point shooting (38.3%).
Meanwhile, Alabama chased Florida in the SEC standings for a majority of the season and was blown out 100-77 against the Gators in Gainesville on Feb. 1. During this game, Fland recorded eight steals, tying a program record set by Clifford Lett, who had eight swipes against Georgia on Jan. 7, 1989.
Despite the thrashing, the Crimson Tide lead the conference and the nation with 92.1 points per game, largely due to Labaron Philon Jr. The sophomore guard leads the team and is third in the SEC with 21.5 points per game, recording 20 or more points in three of his last four outings.
Moreover, Aden Holloway brings an additional 16.8 points per game. Against Florida, he logged a team-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
As No. 5 Florida prepares for the SEC Tournament, there are plenty of teams that can give the Gators a run for their money as they try to defend their title.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the spring 2026 men's basketball beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major with a media, management and production minor. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams
