RALEIGH, N.C. – The eight-seed UConn men's basketball team (24-10) will play for a trip to San Francisco when it takes on top-seed Florida (31-4) in the Second Round of the West Regional at the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon. Tip-off from the Lenovo Center is set for 12:10 p.m. with the contest airing on CBS. The Final Four crew of Ian Eagle, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson will call the action.

The Huskies have faced the Gators six times in their respective program histories and twice in the NCAA Tournament. The first meeting came in the 1994 Sweet 16, an overtime Florida victory. Since then, the Huskies have reeled off five-straight against UF. UConn swept a home-and-home series in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 season with a Final Four meeting sandwiched between. In the 2013 game at Gampel, Shabazz Napier hit a memorable buzzer beater to launch his legendary senior season that culminated in the '14 title. The Huskies made that title game with the aforementioned Final Four win over the Gators, led by a 20-and-10 double-double from DeAndre Daniels to snap a 30-game UF winning streak.

Dan Hurley has faced Florida twice, sweeping a pandemic-extended series with games played in 2019 in Storrs and 2022 in Gainesville. The victory over then-No. 15 Florida in 2019 at Gampel was one of the early signature wins of the Hurley era. The last meeting came early in the 2022-23 championship campaign, a 75-54 victory on Dec. 7, 2022.

Connecticut advanced to the Second Round with a 67-59 victory over Oklahoma on Friday night. Solo Ball led three Huskies in double-figures with 14 points, while Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. had 13 and 12, respectively, and both pulled down seven rebounds. It was one of the best defensive performances of the season for UConn as it held OU to 32.1 percent shooting and out-rebounded the Sooners by seven. The win improved UConn to 21-5 in the First Round since the NCAA Tournament began seeding in 1979.

Ball leads Connecticut with 14.6 points per game this season and is among the national leaders with a 42.2 percent mark from 3-point range. Karaban adds 14.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 blocks per game while captaining the Huskies. The 28^th leading scorer in program history, Karaban continued his knack for the clutch shot with a huge triple in the final minutes against Oklahoma on Friday.

Liam McNeeley, the 2025 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, is third on the squad in scoring (14.2 ppg) and second in rebounding (6.1 rpg). Hassan Diarra leads UConn and ranks top-25 nationally with 5.7 assists per game, also swiping a team-high 1.6 steals per game. Diarra stuffed the stat sheet against OU with four points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Reed Jr. is the Huskies' top rebounder with 7.3 caroms per game and scores 9.8 points a night playing in tandem with Samson Johnson at the center spot. Johnson  adds 7.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 19 minutes per game while shooting 77.6 percent – well on track to set the UConn single-season record. He became the winningest four-year Husky in program history on Friday night with his 115^th victory.

Florida advanced to the second round with a 95-69 rout of 16-seed Norfolk on Friday. The Gators sit at 31-4 on the year and won the 2025 SEC Tournament before earning a one seed. UF boasts the nation's top offense per Kenpom and are also top-10 on the defensive end. Walter Clayton Jr. leads the potent attack with 17.7 points and 4.2 assists per game, followed atop the scoresheet by Alijah Martin (14.5 ppg) and Will Richard (13.4 ppg).

The victor of Sunday's Second Round matinee will advance to the Sweet 16 in San Francisco. The Huskies or Gators will take on the winner of four-seed Maryland and 12-seed Colorado State on Thursday at the Chase Center.