1986–87 Florida Gators men's basketball team

1986–87 Florida Gators men's basketball
1986–87 Florida Gators men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Record	23–11 (12–6 SEC)
Head coach	Norm Sloan (7th season);
Assistant coach	Monte Towe (7th season)
Home arena	O'Connell Center
	Seasons ← 1985–86 1987–88 →

1986–87 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 9 Alabama †	16	–	2	.889	28	–	5	.848
Florida	12	–	6	.667	23	–	11	.676
Georgia	10	–	8	.556	18	–	12	.600
Kentucky	10	–	8	.556	18	–	11	.621
Auburn	9	–	9	.500	18	–	13	.581
Ole Miss	8	–	10	.444	15	–	14	.517
LSU	8	–	10	.444	24	–	15	.615
Tennessee	7	–	11	.389	14	–	15	.483
Vanderbilt	7	–	11	.389	18	–	16	.529
Mississippi State	3	–	15	.167	7	–	21	.250

† 1987 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1986–87 Florida Gators men's basketball team represented the University of Florida as a member of the Southeastern Conference during the 1986–87 NCAA men's basketball season. Led by head coach Norm Sloan, the team played their home games at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida. After finishing second in the SEC regular season standings, Florida was bounced in the quarterfinal round of the SEC Tournament by LSU. The Gators received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, the school's (technically) first appearance in the tournament, where they made a run to the Sweet Sixteen. In the opening round, Florida defeated NC State^[1] and followed that by knocking off No. 3 seed Purdue.^[2] The run ended in the East Regional semifinal,^[3] where Florida was beaten by eventual National runner-up Syracuse, 87–81.^[4] The team finished with a record of 23–11 (12–6 SEC).

Roster[edit]

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	11	Vernon Maxwell	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Jr	Buchholz	Gainesville, Florida
G	23	Clifford Lett	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	So	Pensacola	Pensacola, Florida
C	33	Dwayne Schintzius	7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Fr	Brandon	Brandon, Florida

Head coach

Norm Sloan

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results[edit]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 28, 1986*		at Florida State	L 76–80	0–1	Donald L. Tucker Center Tallahassee, Florida
Dec 1, 1986*		vs. Stetson	W 98–75	1–1
Dec 2, 1986*		Western Carolina	W 116–68	2–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Dec 4, 1986*		vs. SMU	W 110–70	3–1
Dec 10, 1986*		Central Florida	W 89–54	4–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Dec 13, 1986*		at South Florida	W 68–62	5–1	Sun Dome Tampa, Florida
Dec 16, 1986		LSU	W 96–75	6–1 (1–0)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Dec 19, 1986*		vs. Virginia Tech Gator Bowl Tournament	W 82–60	7–1	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum Jacksonville, Florida
Dec 20, 1986*		vs. Ohio State Gator Bowl Tournament	W 82–72	8–1	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum Jacksonville, Florida
Dec 27, 1986*	No. 20	vs. California Rainbow Classic	L 80–83	8–2	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 29, 1986*	No. 20	at Hawaii Rainbow Classic	W 110–83	9–2	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 30, 1986*	No. 20	vs. Ohio State Rainbow Classic	L 84–88	9–3	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Jan 3, 1987 3:00 p.m., JPT		at Georgia	W 87–80	10–3 (2–0)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Jan 7, 1987		Mississippi State	W 100–56	11–3 (3–0)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Jan 10, 1987		at Ole Miss	W 80–72	12–3 (4–0)	Tad Smith Coliseum Oxford, Mississippi
Jan 14, 1987		at Kentucky	L 62–67	12–4 (4–1)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Jan 17, 1987		Tennessee	W 97–90	13–4 (5–1)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Jan 21, 1987		at LSU	W 75–51	14–4 (6–1)	Maravich Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Jan 24, 1987		Vanderbilt	W 85–81	15–4 (7–1)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Jan 28, 1987	No. 19	No. 9 Alabama	W 90–80	16–4 (8–1)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Jan 31, 1987	No. 19	at No. 18 Auburn	L 68–81	16–5 (8–2)	Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Auburn, Alabama
Feb 4, 1987		Georgia	W 66–52	17–5 (9–2)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Feb 7, 1987		at Mississippi State	W 84–56	18–5 (10–2)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Feb 9, 1987	No. 19	Auburn	L 70–84	18–6 (10–3)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Feb 11, 1987	No. 19	Ole Miss	W 85–62	19–6 (11–3)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Feb 14, 1987 3:00 p.m., JPT	No. 19	Kentucky	W 74–56	20–6 (12–3)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Feb 18, 1987 8:00 p.m., JPT	No. 18	at Tennessee	L 71–81	20–7 (12–4)	Stokely Athletics Center Knoxville, Tennessee
Feb 21, 1987*	No. 18	Miami (FL)	W 99–60	21–7	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Feb 25, 1987	No. 18	at Vanderbilt	L 76–84	21–8 (12–5)	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Feb 28, 1987 3:00 p.m., JPT	No. 18	at No. 10 Alabama	L 85–86	21–9 (12–6)	Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, Alabama
SEC Tournament
Mar 6, 1987* JPT		vs. LSU Quarterfinals	L 66–72	21–10	The Omni Atlanta, Georgia
NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 1987*	(6 E)	vs. (11 E) NC State First round	W 82–70	22–10	Carrier Dome Syracuse, New York
Mar 15, 1987*	(6 E)	vs. (3 E) No. 7 Purdue Second round	W 85–66	23–10	Carrier Dome Syracuse, New York
Mar 19, 1987* CBS	(6 E)	vs. (2 E) No. 10 Syracuse East Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	L 81–87	23–11	Brendan Byrne Arena East Rutherford, New Jersey
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. The NCAA tournament results were vacated.

^[5]

Rankings[edit]

References[edit]

^ "NCAA Tournament Roundup". UPI Archives. March 14, 1987. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
^ "Florida Gives Purdue a 'Big Ten' Whipping". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1987. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
^ "Florida Finally Invited and Shows No Respect for Established Teams". The Los Angeles Times. March 19, 1987. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
^ "SEIKALY, SYRACUSE TOP FLORIDA". The Chicago Tribune. March 20, 1987. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
^ 2017–18 Florida Gators men's basketball media guide. p. 92–93. Retrieved 2017-Nov-23.

[1] "NCAA Tournament Roundup". UPI Archives. March 14, 1987. Retrieved January 30, 2022.

[2] "Florida Gives Purdue a 'Big Ten' Whipping". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1987. Retrieved January 30, 2022.

[3] "Florida Finally Invited and Shows No Respect for Established Teams". The Los Angeles Times. March 19, 1987. Retrieved January 30, 2022.

[4] "SEIKALY, SYRACUSE TOP FLORIDA". The Chicago Tribune. March 20, 1987. Retrieved January 30, 2022.

[5] 2017–18 Florida Gators men's basketball media guide. p. 92–93. Retrieved 2017-Nov-23.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Florida Gators men's basketball
Venues	University Gymnasium (1919–1927) New Gymasium (1927–1949) Florida Gymnasium (1949–1980) Stephen C. O'Connell Center (1980–present)
Rivalries	Florida State Kentucky
Culture & lore	Dazzlers Jumpman Invitational
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1915–16 1916–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics