The North Florida Ospreys men's basketball team played its first games in the 1992–93 season, spending their first year as a
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Independent. UNF initially had no basketball court, so the Ospreys' first three home games were played at
Florida Community College at Jacksonville until
UNF Arena was finished in 1993. Their first coach was
Rich Zvosec. In the 1993–94 season UNF transitioned into
NCAA Division II, joining the
Sunshine State Conference. In 1997–98 the Ospreys switched over to the
Peach Belt Conference, also in Division II. After six seasons, Zvosec was succeeded as head coach by former
National Basketball Association (NBA) player
Sidney Green. In 1999,
Matt Kilcullen became the team's third head coach. In 2005, UNF began its transition into
NCAA Division I competition, joining the
Atlantic Sun Conference (A-Sun). The Ospreys improved under Driscoll, who led them to their first conference tournament appearance in the 2009–2010 season. In the
2011 A-Sun tournament the Ospreys upset
Jacksonville and
East Tennessee State to advance to the championship game, but were defeated 87–46 by
Belmont. The game was UNF's first to be nationally televised. In the
2014–15 season, the Ospreys made their first ever appearance in the
NCAA Division I tournament by winning the
Atlantic Sun tournament for the first time. On December 6, 2014, they defeated the
Purdue Boilermakers on the road, marking their first ever victory over a
Big Ten Conference opponent. They also won the Atlantic Sun regular season title for the first time and posted the best record in team history with 23 wins and 11 losses. As a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament, they were defeated by fellow No. 16 seed
Robert Morris in the First Four in
Dayton, Ohio. Nevertheless, the Ospreys drew unprecedented media attention both locally and nationally. Their success continued as the
2015–16 Ospreys began the season with a 93–81 upset at
Illinois. It was the program's second win over a Big Ten Conference opponent. ==Head coaches==