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Florida Gators crack the top 10 in AP poll for first time since 2019

On3 imageby:Zach Abolverdi•12/09/24•

ZachAbolverdi

Will-Richard-Florida-Gators
Florida Gators guard Will Richard (5) reacts after making a three point basket against the Virginia Cavaliers during the first half at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. (Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators opened the 2024-25 season as an AP Top 25 team and have jumped out to a 9-0 start. Now they’ve cracked the top 10 for the first time since 2019.

Florida is ranked No. 9 in the latest Associated Press poll following an 87-69 win over Virginia on Wednesday in the ACC–SEC Challenge.

It marks the Gators’ first top-10 ranking from the AP since November 2019. They opened the year at No. 6, held the spot for two weeks before a loss to FSU and never reached the top 10 again during the 2019-20 season, which was cut short due to COVID-19.

Prior to that, Florida was last ranked in the top 10 during Billy Donovan’s final year. The Gators opened the 2014-15 season at No. 7 but dropped in the AP poll after a loss to Miami and went on to miss the NCAA Tournament.

There’s been no such letdown in the early portion of the 2024-25 season. Florida is 9-0 for the first time since 2005-06 and just the third time in school history.

UF previously started 17-0 in 2005-06 and 10-0 in 1951-52. All nine wins this year have been by a margin of at least 13 points and a +21.6 margin on average.

“I’m proud of our program, proud of our guys. To be 9-0 is hard to do,” Gators coach Todd Golden said after the win over Virginia. “I thought the first five or six minutes of the game we weren’t playing as well as we needed to … and it led to us to have a nine-point deficit early. But from that point forward, obviously outscored them by 27. It’s really hard to do and I thought we kicked it up a gear — started guarding better, getting clean rebounds and getting out in transition.

“I thought Denzel [Aberdeen] and Sam [Alexis] were huge for us in the first half. I thought they gave us a big lift off the bench and allowed us to get a little momentum in the game, and obviously some really good individual performances. I thought Walt [Clayton Jr.] was fantastic, makes me a much better coach when he plays like he does tonight. I though Condo [Alex Condon] was really, really efficient and effective down on the block and against a team that’s a really good two-point fielding percentage defense. So multiple good performances, proud of our guys performance through nine games and we’re excited and looking forward to getting a few days off here before going to Atlanta and playing Arizona State.”

Florida returns to the court on Dec. 14 for another neutral-site matchup against ASU. The Sun Devils are 8-1 to start the season, with their only loss coming at No. 7 Gonzaga (7-1).

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