The Florida Gators and Arizona Wildcats will meet in Las Vegas to open the 2025-26 college basketball season against each other. This is by far the best game on the schedule on Monday night in college hoops. The defending national champions are ranked third in the country and they will look to get a statement win over a top 15 team in the Wildcats. Before tip-off from Vegas, continue reading to get my Florida vs Arizona prediction for this game.
Our Florida vs Arizona Pick
- Pick: Florida Gators −2.5
- Confidence: ★★★★☆
Game Snapshot
- Matchup: Florida Gators @ Arizona Wildcats
- Date & Time: Monday, November 3, 2025, 7:00 PM ET
- Venue: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Broadcast: TNT
Key Storylines
- Florida enters this season as the defending national champion. They finished last year 35-4 and are being viewed among the top preseason teams in the country again here. They lost their top playmaker in Walter Clayton Jr. and will have to overcome those losses to be an elite team again this year.
- Arizona has loaded up with a tough non-conference schedule that includes Florida, UConn, UCLA, and top programs. That means they will be well-tested but they could suffer in terms of their record early in the year.
- This neutral site in Las Vegas removes the typical home-court advantage from the equation for this game. Instead, both teams will have to keep their composure in an unfamiliar environment. But Arizona could benefit from playing in Vegas given their history of playing there during Pac-12 competition before they moved to the Big 12.
- Florida is still expected to dominate the glass going into this season. Their core group of bigs is back from last year's championship season. And while they will have to replace a ton of production at the guard spots, we should see the Gators win on the interior to help stabilize things early in the year.
- Bryce James is a freshman for Arizona this season. He is the son of LeBron James and he is expected to be better than Bronny was during his time at USC. It will be interesting to see how much he plays, if at all.
Florida vs Arizona Model Projection
Score Projection: Florida 79 – Arizona 73
Win Probability: Florida 62%, Arizona 38%
Final Thoughts
It will be very interesting to see how both of these teams look in the face of all of the roster changes they experienced since last season. But I think that we will see Florida assert their dominance once again at the start of the season. I'll lay the points with the Gators here, as their advantage on the interior should offset any edge the Wildcats might find on the perimeter.
Jay Sanin
Jay Sanin is the GM and Head of Sports at ATS.io. He has been writing about sports gambling since 2013, handicapping tens of thousands of sporting events. He plays sides and totals aggressively across most sports and is more selective in player prop markets. He does his own modeling across most sports, and his family is jealous of how much time he spends on his precious spreadsheets.
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