Florida Gators climb polls ahead of Jumpman Invitational vs. UNC
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators continued to climb the polls Monday following their dominant 83-66 win over Arizona State and undefeated start to the 2024-25 season.
UF (10-0) jumped two spots in the latest Associated Press Poll to No. 7 and moved up to No. 6 in the new USA Today Coaches Poll.
Up next for the Gators is another neutral-site matchup Tuesday against North Carolina in the Jumpman Invitational at 7 p.m. on ESPN. The Tar Heels are 6-4 on the season.
Florida and North Carolina meet for the seventh time in series history and the first time in a decade. The Gators are 2-4 against UNC, with wins coming in the 2000 Final Four in Indianapolis and in a 1964 home game.
UF has split its two Jumpman Invitational games, falling 62-53 vs. Oklahoma in 2022 and beating Michigan in double overtime, 106-101, last season.
One of five remaining unbeaten teams, the Florida Gators have back-to-back top-10 rankings in the AP poll after November for the first time since spending the final 11 weeks of the 2013-14 season in the top 10.
“Obviously a great honor and kind of part of the process we’re trying to complete as far as being one of the top programs in the country,” Florida coach Todd Golden said of the program’s first top-10 ranking since 2019. “Obviously, off to a good start and starting to get some recognition for that nationally.
“Happy in the meantime, but still very hungry and determined to make sure we keep rising and go in the right direction.”
Florida’s blowout win over ASU marked the third 10-0 start in program history, previously starting 17-0 in 2005-06 and 10-0 in 1951-52. All 10 wins this season have been by a margin of at least 13 points with a +21.1 margin on average.
“Nothing that we do between now and March is going to satisfy us. That’s kind of the mentality that we want to have. We can play great and win all the games, but our end goal is to go deep in the NCAA Tournament,” Golden said. “So we’ve obviously played well. We’ve done some good things. We have plenty of areas that we can improve.
“But my expectation is guys like Walter [Clayton], Alijah [Richard] and Will [Richard], they want to make a deep run. Being top 10 is nice, but it’s not the end game. It’s just not the end game. It’s just part of the process, and it’s been a good part of the process, and we just got to keep going. But, I don’t feel like our guys are like satisfied, like, ‘Hey, we made it. We’re good.’ That’s not the mentality we have right now.”
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