Florida Citrus Sports Shootout Pairs UF-UCF At Amway Center
The University of Florida and UCF basketball teams will meet later this year in Orlando for the Florida Citrus Sports Shootout. The “Shootout” will take place Wednesday, December 1, and will be the first-ever collegiate game at the brand-new Amway Center in Orlando. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster outlets and online at Ticketmaster.com. Ticket prices for the FCSports Shootout range from $15-100 with lower bowl tickets as affordable as $15.
The meeting will also be the first between the Gators and Knights in Orlando. The two schools last met on the basketball court in 2008, a 89-61 win for Florida.
“We are excited that for as little as $15 fans will be able to enjoy two programs on the rise and claim ‘they were there’ for the first-ever college basketball game in the new Amway Center,” said FCSports CEO Steve Hogan.
The Shooutout is a bigger and badder sequel to 2008’s Florida Hospital Gator Jam, a matchup between UF and Missouri-Kansas City that was – at the time — UF’s first game in The City Beautiful since 1997. The Gators have played 12 games all-time in Orlando, with every contest prior to 2008 coming between 1989 and 1997. UCF’s last neutral site appearance in the Orlando area came in the 2007 Old Spice Classic at what is now ESPN’s Wide World of Sports, but this will be the first neutral site appearance within the city limits since 1990.
“The new Amway Center is for our residents – providing them with new sports and entertainment options,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. “This in-state rivalry game is expected to bring a boost to our economy and we’re excited to give fans a world-class experience at the new state-of-the-art events center in Downtown Orlando.”
UCF announced the hiring of former Marshall head coach Donnie Jones in late March after he led the Thundering Herd to a 24-10 (11-5 C-USA) record in 2009-10. In that final season in Huntington, Jones – also a former UF assistant — led Marshall to its first postseason appearance in 22 years. Jones’ Knights should be greatly improved from last year’s 15-17 (6-10 C-USA) squad after one of the nation’s youngest rosters in college basketball returns all five starters in 2010-11.
In Gainesville, the starting five also return for a team that finished 21-13 (9-7 SEC) and fell in a memorable double-overtime thriller in the NCAA’s first round last year. The Gators added a top 10 recruiting class featuring PF Patric Young and SF Casey Prather, leading many pundits to predict a strong 2010-11 campaign. FoxSports.com (10th), ESPN’s Andy Katz (14th), Rivals.com (20th) and The Sporting News (22nd) all pick the Gators in the Top 25 of their early preseason polls.
For ticket information or to purchase tickets, call 407.423.2476 or visit our event page. Priority seating is available for members of Florida Citrus Sports.