Gators will reportedly play Oklahoma next season in Jumpman Invitational
Florida is one of four Jordan Brand schools that play in the inaugural Jumpman Invitational next season.
According to report Monday from Jon Rothstein, the Gators will face Oklahoma for the second-straight year on Dec. 20 while North Carolina and Michigan meet Dec. 21.
Those two matchups are only games being played at the event, which will take place at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center per Rothstein.
Led by first-year coach Todd Golden, Florida gets a neutral court rematch with the Sooners after traveling to Norman last season. After the Gators started out 6-0, Oklahoma handed them their first loss of the year and prevented the team from matching the best seven-game start in program history.
This December will be the fifth meeting between the two schools, who split the first four games. The Gators won in 1995 (76-72 OT) and in 2017 at Oklahoma (84-52) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, but lost to the Sooners the following season (65-60) in the Bahamas.
Golden’s 2022-23 roster has taken shape over the past month with Colin Castleton and Myreon Jones both returning for a fifth season and Kowacie Reeves deciding to remain at Florida. Starting point guard Tyree Appleby and forward Tuongthach Gatkek, meanwhile, have entered the portal.
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Gators busy in the portal
The Gators have landed a trio of transfers in point guard Trey Bonham (VMI), forward Alex Fudge (LSU) and guard Will Richard (Belmont), with their sights set on a couple more additions.
During his introductory press conference at Florida on March 23, Golden discussed what he’s looking for when recruiting via the transfer portal.
“Really good players,” Golden quipped. “Guys that have achieved at a high level in their previous spot. There’s usually a lot of variables and different things that go into these decisions, whether it was a coach leaving, whether it was just an uncomfortable situation, whatever it is. There’s a lot of guys in the portal. In the past transferring has had a negative connotation. People have thought of transferring as something that’s negative and speaks to a lack of continuity in the program, things of that nature.
“I don’t look at it that way. I think these guys are young men. They’re allowed to make decisions like this, and so we’re going to vet them the same way that we would vet high school kids. We’re going to talk to them. We’re going to talk to their families. If they’re transferring usually former coaches to see this there’s a reason. You can find a lot of special kids student athletes in the portal that can fit within the makeup of your program if you look hard.”
