Nearly two decades will have elapsed when Florida basketball faces one of its in-state rivals this coming season. The university recently announced that the Gators are set to face the South Florida Bulls in the 2021 Orange Bowl Classic held at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, on December 18.
The last time the two teams faced each other on the parquet was December 12, 2002, when UF overtook USF, 68-52, at home in the O’Connell Center. Notable names on that Florida roster include Matt Bonner, Anthony Roberson, Matt Walsh, David Lee and Brett Nelson, who headlined a squad that finished 25-8 overall that year and No. 10 in the AP Poll after the regular season but lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to the Michigan State Spartans.
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Florida has won six of the last seven meetings and has a firm grip on the all-time series, notching an 18-5 record since the two schools first faced each other in 1971. The Gators’ longest winning streak of eight games stretched from 1983 to 1989. The recent 19-year gap between games is the longest in series history.
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