Florida walk-on’s interview with student reporter after Sweet 16 game goes viral

Florida Gators guard Bennett Andersen doesn’t get many media interviews, given he has scored only four points all season.

But Andersen has gone viral on social media during the Sweet 16, not because he scored his second field goal of the year in Thursday night’s win against Maryland, but because of his interview with a student radio reporter afterward.

Andersen seemed distracted talking to ESPN Gainesville’s Talia Baia in the locker room. Baia is a student reporter at ESPN 98.1. She is studying journalism and communications at Florida.

“First of all, congrats on your bucket, that was huge,” Baia said. “I just want to know how was the trip here, and how was the energy going into that game?”

“Trip’s been awesome, energy was good,” Andersen said.

Baia asked some good questions, and the 6-foot-2 senior guard’s answers were fine. But after Baia posted the interview on X, fans pointed out an obvious takeaway from the interview — Andersen could not stop smiling at Baia.

Why? You be the judge.

Fans gave their thoughts on Andersen’s state of mind during the interview.

Andersen led his intramural basketball team to the campus championship at Florida while working his first three years as Gators team manager. He even has a great nickname, “Buckets.” The team went wild when he scored Thursday.

Now, Andersen just needs to work on not getting so distracted during interviews.