No.13 Florida improved to 9-0 for the third time in program history and first since the 2005-06 campaign when they defeated Virginia 87-69 on Wednesday night. The Gators have beaten all nine of their opponents by double digits this season.
“Proud of our program, proud of our guys,” Head Coach Todd Golden said postgame. “9-0 is hard to do.”
Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. led the way for Florida, recording 27 points behind a season-high five made three pointers. Clayton Jr. also logged four assists, three rebounds, and two steals while committing just one turnover.
“I thought Walt was fantastic. He makes me a much better coach when he plays like he does tonight,” Golden said on Clayton Jr.
It was a sluggish start for Todd Golden’s squad, who found themselves trailing Virginia 16-7 after five minutes of play. However, it didn’t take long for the Gators to turn things around on both ends of the floor. Florida proceeded to go on a 15-0 run during UVA’s seven-minute scoring drought and found themselves leading 39-35 at halftime.
“The first five or six minutes we weren’t playing as well as we needed to, I didn’t think we guarded with enough urgency on the perimeter, I didn’t think we rebounded well enough, and it led to us having a nine-point deficit early on,” Golden said on the early struggles. “From that point forward, to outscore them by 27 is really hard to do. We kicked it up a gear, started guarding better, getting clean rebounds, and getting out in transition.”
Junior forward Sam Alexis provided a much-needed spark for the Gators during this stretch, hauling in a series of offensive rebounds that led to points for himself and his teammates. Sophomore guard Denzel Aberdeen had 10 points at halftime on 4-5 shooting including 2-2 from three-point range.
“I thought Denzel and Sam were huge for us in the first half. I thought they gave us a big lift off the bench and allowed us to get a little momentum in the game,” Golden said.
The Gators dominated much of the second half thanks to the trio of Walter Clayton Jr., Alex Condon, and Alijah Martin, who combined for 43 of Florida’s 48 points in the final 20 minutes. Clayton Jr. scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half on 7 of 9 shooting. Sophomore forward Alex Condon contributed 15 points in the second half on 5-6 shooting while adding 5 rebounds (three offensive) in 15 minutes.
Todd Golden wasn’t particularly impressed with Florida’s rebounding or perimeter defense, but the Gators were able to create offense with their defense, scoring 24 points off turnovers in the contest. On the other end, the Gators took care of the basketball, committing just six turnovers vs a stout UVA defense. Florida seems to find a new way to win every week.
The Gators have only started 9-0 two times previously, most recently in the team’s program-record 17-0 start in 2005-06. That 2005-2006 team went on to win the National Championship.