Twelve games on national television highlight the Florida men’s basketball team’s Southeastern Conference schedule announced Thursday.
The release of the SEC portion of the schedule completes the 2010-11 slate for coach Billy Donovan’s Gators. The non-conference portion of the schedule was announced earlier this month. Nine games with teams that competed in the postseason in 2009-10 highlight the non-conference schedule.
Highlighting the non-conference schedule are home games with Ohio State and Rhode Island, road games at Florida State and Xavier, and a neutral site game with Kansas State.
“I think we benefitted last year from a challenging non-conference schedule and getting a couple of quality wins early in the season,” said Florida men’s basketball coach Billy Donovan. “We’re going to stay with the same scheduling philosophy and we’ve put together another competitive non-conference schedule.”
Florida will open SEC play on Jan. 8 at home against Mississippi before traveling to Tennessee three days later for its first of three Super Tuesday appearances. After a home game against South Carolina Jan. 15, the Gators have the first of two Thursday-Saturday turnarounds, traveling to Auburn on Jan. 20 before hosting Arkansas on Jan. 22.
The Gators then hit the road for a pair of national TV games, taking on Georgia on Jan. 25 on ESPN and visiting Mississippi State on Jan. 29 in front of the CBS Sports cameras.
Vanderbilt comes to the O’Connell Center on Feb. 1 at 9 p.m. on ESPN, followed by College GameDay’s first visit to Gainesville since 2008 on Feb. 5, culminated with the Kentucky game at 9 p.m.
The Gators return the trip to South Carolina on Feb. 9 before returning home for a showdown with Tennessee on Feb. 12 on either ESPN or ESPN2. The Gators head to Baton Rouge on Feb. 20 to take on LSU on either ESPN or ESPN2.
Florida then has its final Thursday-Saturday combination of the season, a tough one, with Georgia at the O’Connell Center on Feb. 24 on either ESPN or ESPN2, followed by a road trip to Rupp Arena to face Kentucky on Feb. 26 on CBS. Senior Day will be on March 1 against Alabama on ESPNU, while the Gators will close out the regular season on March 5 at Vanderbilt on ESPN.
The SEC Tournament will be held from March 10-13 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Season tickets are currently on sale.
FLORIDA MEN’S BASKETBALL 2010-11 SCHEDULE
OCTOBER
28 (Thursday) FLORIDA TECH 7 p.m.
NOVEMBER
03 (Wednesday) GEORGETOWN (Ky.), 7 p.m.
12 (Friday) UNC-WILMINGTON, TBA
16 (Tuesday) OHIO STATE, 6 p.m. (ESPN)
18 (Thursday) NORTH CAROLINA A&T, TBA
21 (Sunday) MOREHEAD STATE, TBA
23 (Tuesday) FLORIDA ATLANTIC, TBA
28 (Sunday) at Florida State, TBA
DECEMBER
01 (Wednesday) at UCF, TBA
05 (Sunday) at American, TBA
09 (Thursday) KENT STATE, TBA
18 (Saturday) Kansas State at Sunrise, Fla., TBA
20 (Monday) JACKSONVILLE, TBA
22 (Wednesday) RADFORD, TBA
28 (Tuesday) FAIRFIELD, TBA
31 (Friday) at Xavier, Ohio, TBA
JANUARY
03 (Monday) RHODE ISLAND, TBA
08 (Saturday) MISSISSIPPI (SEC), 8 p.m. (CSS)
11 (Tuesday) at Tennessee (SEC), 9 p.m. (ESPN)
15 (Saturday) SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC), 1:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
20 (Thursday) at Auburn (SEC), 7 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
22 (Saturday) ARKANSAS (SEC), 8 p.m. (FSN)
25 (Tuesday) at Georgia (SEC), 7 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
29 (Saturday) at Mississippi State (SEC), 1 p.m. (CBS)
FEBRUARY
01 (Tuesday) VANDERBILT (SEC), 9 p.m. (ESPN)
05 (Saturday) KENTUCKY (SEC), 9 p.m. (ESPN)
09 (Wednesday) at South Carolina (SEC), 8 p.m. (SEC Network)
12 (Saturday) TENNESSEE (SEC), 6 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
20 (Sunday) at Louisiana State (SEC), 1 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
24 (Thursday) GEORGIA (SEC), 7 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
26 (Saturday) at Kentucky (SEC), 4 p.m. (CBS)
MARCH
01 (Tuesday) ALABAMA (SEC), 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
05 (Saturday) at Vanderbilt (SEC), 6 p.m. (ESPN)
10 (Thursday) SEC Tournament at Georgia Dome, Atlanta
11 (Friday) SEC Tournament at Georgia Dome, Atlanta
12 (Saturday) SEC Tournament at Georgia Dome, Atlanta
13 (Sunday) SEC Tournament at Georgia Dome, Atlanta
15 (Tuesday) NCAA Tournament/first round (to be determined)
17-19 (Thurs.-Sat.) NCAA Tournament/second-third rounds (St. Petersburg Times Forum, Tampa, Fla.; Pepsi Center, Denver, Colo.; McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz.; Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.)
18-20 (Fri.-Sun.) NCAA Tournament/second-third rounds (Time-Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, N.C.; United Center, Chicago, Ill.; Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio; BOK Center, Tulsa, Okla.)
24-26 (Thurs.-Sat.) NCAA Tournament/regional semifinals-finals (West Regional at Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif.; Southeast Regional at New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, La.)
25-27 (Fri.-Sun.) NCAA Tournament/regional semifinals-finals (East Regional at Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.; Southwest Regional at Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas)
APRIL
2 (Saturday) NCAA Tournament/Final Four semifinals at Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
4 (Monday) NCAA Tournament/Final Four championship at Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas