wilbekin accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the university of florida in gainesville, florida, where he played for coach billy donovan's gators teams from 2010 to 2014. during his 2013–14 senior season, he led the florida gators to the southeastern conference (sec) regular season championship and the sec tournament title, and he was named the sec player of the year by the conference's coaches and the associated press. in addition, "the sporting news" named him a third-team all-american. with wilbekin as the team's senior leader, the gators advanced to the 2014 ncaa final four.