WATCH: Florida Gators celebrate SEC title, cut down O'Dome nets
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Todd Golden and the defending national champions another added feather to their cap on Saturday: SEC regular season title. The Florida Gators, who won the NCAA Tournament and SEC Tournament last year, claimed their first league championship since 2014 with a 111-77 win over Arkansas.
The victory gives the Gators at least a share of the SEC regular season title, the team’s eighth all-time, and one more win will give them the outright crown.
“I was really proud that we can call ourselves SEC champions,” Golden said in his postgame presser.
The Gators celebrated on the court after the game, receiving a new banner for the 2026 SEC title and cutting down the nets in the O’Dome. For Golden, his staff and many returning players, it marked their fourth net-cutting ceremony since last year in Nashville.
“We ’bout to go out there and get another one,” Thomas Haugh told the crowd on Saturday night.
The Gators also clinched the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament with the win Saturday. Only Alabama or Arkansas could catch Florida in the standings, and UF owns the tiebreaker in any scenario. But for now, the league champions are focused on Mississippi State.
“Our next goal is now to be the lone outright champs,” Golden said. “As of right now, Bama won against Tennessee. So, if we don’t take care of our business, they could still potentially tie us. We don’t want that to happen. We want to win on Tuesday night on our home floor to get the lone championship.
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“We’re playing for a lot still. We got a lot to still accomplish. This can’t be the best thing that happened to us this year. Not only are we playing to be lone champs on Tuesday, but I told the guys, we’re playing to become the best seed possible. … If we take care of business and play really well, there’s not a seed out there that is unattainable for us.”
Florida has now won nine games in a row, the fifth-longest streak ever by a UF a team, and Golden earned his 99th win as the Gators coach. That ranks sixth in program history, but Golden surpassed Bruce Pearl (98, Tennessee) for third-most wins over first a coach’s four seasons at an SEC school.
That trails only Kentucky’s John Calipari (123) and Tubby Smith (110), Golden can tie Smith at the end of this season if he wins out and goes back-to-back. That’s the ultimate goal for him and the Gators, but they took time on Saturday to celebrate their conference championship in league play.
“As I continue in my career, you just realize that every year is different and every team is different. And we were incredibly fortunate to return some really impactful players off a national championship team, but it took us a little bit to get comfortable and to find our way. And the credit that this team deserves more than anything is staying together,” Golden said after the game.
“Believing in each other when guys weren’t playing at their best, not pointing fingers. Our staff did a great job of keeping our guys aligned and on the same page. Even when we were 5-4, we thought we had a chance to have a special season if we just improved incrementally over the rest of the year and we’ve done that. I think we’re playing as good as anybody in America right now.”