Inaugural college basketball doubleheader with Florida Gators vs. Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles vs. Florida A&M Rattlers at Benchmark International Arena.
The Orion180 Tip-Off Classic opens the 2026-27 college basketball season at Benchmark International Arena on Monday, November 2, with a doubleheader that puts four Florida teams on the same floor in one night. It's the inaugural edition of the event, put on by Total Sports Consulting with Orion180 as the title partner, and it's being broadcast across the ESPN Family of Networks. The games tip off at 6 PM and 8:30 PM.
The early game is the one that'll draw the biggest crowd: the #1 Florida Gators take on the #21 Miami Hurricanes. Florida enters the season as the preseason No. 1 under head coach Todd Golden, and they're coming off a 2026 SEC championship. They're returning four starters and more than 80 percent of their scoring from that title run, including All-American Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu, who was named Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. Miami is in its first season under Jai Lucas, coming off a 26-9 run that saw them tie the NCAA record for the largest turnaround and reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 7 seed.
The second game is Florida State vs. Florida A&M. Florida State is coming off a season where they set a program record for conference wins by a first-year head coach. For Florida A&M, it's a bit more personal: head coach Charlie Ward returns to face his alma mater in the program's first regular-season meeting with the Seminoles since 1991.
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If you're planning to catch both, the schedule is straightforward: Florida vs. Miami at 6 PM, followed by Florida State vs. Florida A&M at 8:30 PM, all at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa. Both games will be on the ESPN Family of Networks if you can't make it in person.
