Florida Gators basketball adds Clemson, Cincinnati to solid 2017-18 schedule

Basketball

0

The Florida Gators took the Southeastern Conference‘s mandate for league teams to schedule tougher nonconference opponents to heart a few seasons ago, and their difficult booking continues entering the 2017-18 campaign.

It was announced last week that Florida’s opponent for the annual Orange Bowl Basketball Classic in Sunrise, Florida, will be the Clemson Tigers. UF will also face the Cincinnati Bearcats as part of the 2017 Never Forget Games on Dec. 9 in Newark, New Jersey, Jon Rothstein reported Friday.

These programs join Baylor, Florida State and Stanford as guaranteed opponents for the Gators this season. Florida will also face either Gonzaga or Ohio State and could also take on Butler, Duke and/or Texas all as part of the Phil Knight Invitational from Nov. 23-26 in Portland, Oregon.

It is possible that the reported matchup with Cincinnati is replacing UF’s return game with Michigan State on the schedule. That has been pushed to the 2018-19 season.

The Gators played nearly the entire 2016-17 nonconference schedule away from home due to a massive renovation to the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Florida will host Baylor in the 2017 SEC/Big 12 Challenge and also have FSU travel to its home arena.