How Florida is Relishing Opportunity to Start NCAA Tournament in Tampa

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Getting to open up the NCAA Tournament less than two hours away in Tampa is already a benefit for the Florida Gators. Adding to it that Florida has played in Las Vegas, San Diego, New York City and Durham, North Carolina among others this season, head coach Todd Golden is not taking the opportunity for granted.

"I think it's fantastic," he said on Monday. "We've had a lot of travel this year, all our doing, going out to California, going to Vegas, New York in the preseason. We've been on the road a lot. And so to be able to be home here in Tampa, I think, is great for us and should be really good."

LET'S DANCE 👆🕺🪩🔥‼️ pic.twitter.com/yFaj5MSjku
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) March 15, 2026

Saturday's game against either 16-seed Lehigh or 16-seed Prairie View A&M, who play each other on Thursday in the First Four, marks the first time since 2011, and fifth overall, that Florida plays a tournament game in Tampa. The Gators are 3-1 in those games, with wins coming in 2003 over Sam Houston State in the Round of 64, 2011 over UC Santa Barbara in the Round of 64 and 2011 over UCLA in the Round of 32.

According to Florida Gators senior writer Chris Harry, the Gators have faired well in in-state tournament games, going 11-2 with nine-straight wins, including wins in 2017 in Orlando. While Florida will be the heavy favorite over either Lehigh or Prairie View A&M, and either Iowa or Clemson should the Gators advance, Golden knows crowd support will certainly help.

Having a home-court advantage has certainly helped Florida over the last three seasons. Since the Gators went 10-6 at the O'Connell Center in Golden's first season (2022-23), the Gators are 33-3 at home with consistent sell-out crowds. It's something Golden, like the opportunity to begin the tournament in Florida, has not taken for granted.

"Knock on wood, we've had great support all year," Golden said. "And I imagine this week, with our games being in Tampa, that we should have a great crowd. And we hope that everybody can come out and support the Gators.”

Florida dominated Virginia the last time the Gators played in the state of Florida during the NCAA Tournament. | Kim Klement-Imagn Images

That being said, crowd support does not equal to automatic wins. After the shocking upset loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament, Golden said there is an opportunity to address some of the team's shortcomings – namely, turnovers – ahead of the tournament, one that is more difficult to take advantage of during a winning streak.

Golden also broke down Florida's potential opponents in Tampa, saying that he expects the Gators to be heavy favorites and to beat either Lehigh or Prairie View A&M, but that both Iowa and Clemson each provide certain challenges. Specifically, Iowa, behind guard Bennett Stirtz, is "really good offensively," while Clemson is a tough team that "won't beat themselves."

"That's going to be a really big challenge either way," Golden said. "To be honest, I know who else is in the bracket, but, we're not, at least me personally, going to spend too much time worrying about that until late next Sunday night if we're able to advance."

Still, it helps that Florida's chase for back-to-back titles starts a bus ride away from Gainesville with the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight set to be played in Houston and the Final Four and National Championship to be played in Indianapolis.

Florida's play in the tournament begins on Friday at 9:25 p.m. with television coverage on TNT.