Gators accept NIT invitation, will host Iona in first round
The Florida Gators men’s basketball team has accepted an invite to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) that begins on Tuesday.
The tournament holds 32 teams, and Florida has been deemed a three-seed. Pitino has taken four different programs to the NCAA tournament and coached two national championship teams.
This will be the team’s 11th appearance all-time in the NIT. Florida is set to host the six-seed Iona Gaels, who won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season title. Tip-off for the game is set for Wednesday at 9:00 pm in Gainesville. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
The Gaels are coached by Rick Pitino. During his 32 seasons as a collegiate head coach, coach Pitino has a 770-271 overall record and a 54-19 record in the NCAA Tournament. He became the first coach to take three different schools to the NCAA Final Four and the first coach to win an NCAA Championship at two different schools. Pitino holds the third-highest winning percentage in NCAA Tournament games (.740) among all active coaches.
If Florida wins, it will face either No. 2 seed Xavier or seven-seed Cleveland State on either March 19 or March 20.
Gators will be without Mike White
Also announced Sunday was UF head coach Mike White’s departure from the program after seven seasons in Gainesville. He’s headed to Athens to be the head coach at the University of Georgia.
“Mike White informed me this afternoon that he was accepting another job,” UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin said in a statement. “It’s been a pleasure having Mike, Kira and the White family with us in Gainesville, and we wish them well. They are a wonderful family who always represented the Gators in a first-class manner.”
The Gators last played in the NIT during the 2015-16 season, which was White’s first season as head coach in Gainesville. That year they advanced to the quarterfinals and fell to George Washington.
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Associate head coach Al Pinkins will be the interim coach for the Gators for the remainder of the postseason. Pinkins was hired by White in 2018 to leave Texas Tech.
Pinkins has been an assistant coach all over the country since 2003, when he started with Middle Tennessee State. He’s a familiar face in the SEC being an assistant at Ole Miss, Tennessee and LSU, but this will be his first opportunity as a head coach.
How to attend the Gators NIT game
When it comes to tickets, just about everything will be the same. Tickets will be digital, and season ticket holders can buy their tickets in their regular spots in their accounts before Monday at 5 p.m.
General public tickets are already on sale, and third-party platforms will have tickets available on Monday at 6 p.m.
Student tickets will be able to access their passes in their accounts on the Florida Gators App.
Courtside tickets are going for $40; club, lodge, lower baseline, and 100 level for $18; 200 level for $14; and students will be able to purchase tickets for $4.
