Florida Gators to face Notre Dame in Players Era tourney opener

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The first opponent for the Florida Gators in the Players Era tournament has been set. UF faces Notre Dame in the Nov. 17 opener of the Players Era 8 event at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. This will be the first all-time meeting between the Gators and the Fighting Irish.

The winner of the Florida-Notre Dame matchup will take on the winner of Houston vs. Rutgers in the semifinal matchup on Nov. 18, with the Players Era 8 championship set for Nov. 19. The opposite side of the bracket includes West Virginia vs. Auburn and Kansas vs. UNLV in the opening round.

“We’re playing in Players Era, so that’s three really good games right there,” UF coach Todd Golden said. “And we’ll play a couple more really tough opponents in preparation (for SEC play). It did not feel good being 5-4 (last season), but it definitely benefited us and allowed us to be prepared to win the league. So, somewhere in between, but we’ll play some marquee matchups outside of Players Era.”

All games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, with times and specific network designations to be announced later.

UF will open next year against in-state rival Miami, playing the Hurricanes for the second year in a row. The 2026-27 season opener will take place in Tampa.

Florida and Miami faced each other last year in Jacksonville and UF won the game 82-68. Golden hinted that the Hurricanes would be interested in a rematch.

“You have teams like Miami, where I think Jai [Lucas] is doing a great job,” Golden said. “He’s formulated a really good roster and he’s in a position that I kind of feel I was in at San Francisco from the standpoint of you have a really good team and you want to go play the best because it’s a win-win.

“So they want to play us and they’d have a chance to beat us. There’s a lot of teams that don’t. So, we gotta find the right programs and the right teams to play that make sense for us, that provide a good competitive game and will help us prepare for SEC play.”

Players Era 8 | Nov. 17-19 at Michelob ULTRA Arena

Tuesday, Nov. 17 – Opening Round Games (All times TBD)
Florida vs. Notre Dame
Houston vs. Rutgers
West Virginia vs. Auburn
Kansas vs. UNLV

Wednesday, Nov. 18 (All times TBD)
Semifinal #1 – WINNER (Houston/Rutgers) vs. WINNER (Florida/Notre Dame)
Semifinal #2 – WINNER (West Virginia/Auburn) vs. WINNER (Kansas/UNLV)
Consolation #1
Consolation #2

Thursday, Nov. 19 (All times TBD)
Championship Game
Third-Place Game
Consolation #3
Consolation #4

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