Florida’s Bennett Anderson sparks viral moment after flirty March Madness interview with ESPN student reporter

Florida will join its fellow No. 1 seeds later this week in the Final Four.

The Gators defeated Texas Tech this past Saturday to advance to the semifinals. But before that, they needed to make it past Maryland in the Sweet 16. UF took care of business against the Terrapins, but a walk-on’s postgame interview made headlines. 

Bennett Anderson, who also had a stint as the Gators team manager, doesn’t typically draw much attention from members of the media. He has seen a limited amount of playing time and has scored a total of four points this season.

But he appeared to enjoy the opportunity to have a camera focus on him and was particularly fond of the person who conducted the interview. ESPN Gainesville student reporter Talia Baia asked Anderson a few questions, including one about him making just his second basket of the season.

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“Hopefully these guys take care of business so I can play again, hopefully I can get another bucket,” Anderson told Baia. Anderson’s lone basket in the game happened after he grabbed an offensive rebound in the final minute of the Sweet 16 game. He then drove to the hoop and made a layup.

A video of the interview posted to Baia’s social media account drew more than 7 million views as of Monday morning.

Some social media users suggested that the Florida basketball player was enamored with the student reporter. “That man is in love lol,” on X user wrote.

Anderson did not take the court during Florida’s victory over Texas Tech in the Elite Eight. Florida will take on SEC foe Auburn in the Final Four on Saturday in San Antonio. The game will mark the Gators’ sixth Final Four appearance in program history.

Houston will meet Duke later on Saturday in the other semifinal game. The winners of both of those games will advance to the national championship game at the Alamodome.

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