By Ken Cross
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 5 Florida Gators began Saturday’s 90-71 win over Ole Miss by inviting the Rebs into their O’Connell Center pool and waiting until they had settled in.
Just after a competitive and interesting first half, the Gators fostered their metaphorical ‘chomp’ in outscoring Ole Miss, 14-0, over the next three minutes. Will Richard then made a three off a inbounds pass and Florida led 54-37 with 15:45 remaining.
“To start the second half, they made two threes, we didn’t have enough urgency guarding the line at that point,” said coach Todd Golden. At that point, we picked it up, made a basket, started getting some stops, got some clean rebounds, some run-outs.”
Florida built the lead to 86-64 when Thomas Haugh made a three from the right wing with 3:07 remaining.
Walter Clayton, Jr., once again proved his mastery of basketball skills when he scored 23 points and handed out eight assists. He was 9-of-17 from the field and made five three-pointers.
“Walter had a stretch there where he was unguardable, and really kind of took the top off the defense,” said Golden. “Once we were able to get out to that run, you know, we felt pretty good about it the rest of the way.”
Clayton supplemented threes from Alex Condon and Alijah Martin with two triples to end the first half and the Gators led 38-31. His lay up and another three helped to build a 45-37 advantage at the beginning of the 16-3 sprint.
“Talk about playing with confidence, he’s out there just letting it rip,” exclaimed Golden. “He just is so good with the ball in his hands and makes great decisions.”
Condon, like Clayton, has been one of several Gators who have had to miss games in order to recover from injury. Condon finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds which followed his 27-10 effort in the Gators’ midweek win at Alabama.
“That’s something that when he’s playing with that reckless abandon, going to the backboard and clearing it, you know he’s on his stuff, and just playing with a lot of confidence right now.” reflected Golden, “It’s fun to see.”
Florida outrebounded Ole Miss, 48-36, while scoring 19 points on 15 offensive boards. The Gators average 42.4 rebounds per game (8th/CBB) and ourebound opponents y 8.4 per evening.
The Gators only account for 10.7 turnovers and they uncharacteristically recorded 13 turnovers in the first half and then only one in the second.
“t’s really important because it’s a big part of who we are and what we do, and when we don’t rebound well, we’re not as good,” Golden said.
Clayton, Martin, and Will Richard were honored on Senior Night as the Gators backcourt is joined by Denzel Aberdeen who completes a versatile and deep backcourt.
“They competed the right way,” said Golden. “They played for the team. They got on the glass. They defended. It’s what I expected, but it’s even harder to execute. And all three of those guys did a really nice job with that tonight.”