Florida Gators earn No. 7 seed, open NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis
The Florida Gators will be dancing as a No. 7 seed in the South Region and will face either Boise State or Colorado in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday in Indianapolis.
The Gators enter the event with a 24-11 record.
The field for the event was announced Sunday evening, just hours after Florida lost to No. 12 Auburn 86-67 in the finals of the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
“That’s okay. It happens,” Gators coach Todd Golden told the media Sunday afternoon. “We’ll kind of dust ourselves off and get back up and get ready for the NCAA Tournament.”
This will be the first NCAA Tournament appearance for Golden as Gators coach in his second season — and his second appearance overall. He also made the event in 2022 while at San Francisco.
Florida made the field for the first time since 2021 and the 24th time in program history.
Boise State is 22-10; Colorado is 24-10. Those teams will play each other Wednesday and the winner will be the 10 seed on Friday.
Sunday, the Gators played their fourth game in four days at the SEC Tournament and it showed. Looking fatigued down the stretch against a strong opponent, Florida succumbed to the Tigers in the second half. Guard Zyon Pullin led the Gators with 15 points.
“I’m excited to get back on track for the tournament next week,” Golden said.
Florida will enter the NCAA Tournament having taken a significant hit on the injury front.
Early in the first half Sunday, Gators starting center Micah Handlogten fractured his lower left leg while going up for a rebound. Handlogten, a sophomore from Lake Norman, N.C., averages 5.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Per Golden, Handlogten was likely to have surgery Sunday night.
Here are some numbers of note for the Florida Gators …
*NCAA Tournament appearances: (24) 1987*, 1988*, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024 (The ’87 and ’88 teams technically vacated NCAA games because of violations).
*Sweet 16 appearances: (11) 1987, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017.
*Elite Eight appearances: (9) 1994, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017.
*Final Four appearances: (5) 1994, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2014.
*NCAA titles: (2) 2006, 2007.
