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No. 6 Florida bounced back from a poor performance Saturday at No. 4 Tennessee with a 86-75 victory against Vanderbilt at the O’Connell Center on Tuesday without its leading scorer.
No Walter Clayton Jr.? No problem.
The All-SEC guard and member of the Bob Cousy Midseason Watch List was out with an ankle injury he sustained against Tennessee. He gives the Gators 17.4 points a game. Taking over the scoring reins for the Gators (19-3, 6-3) were Will Richard and Alex Condon, who scored 21 and 19 points, respectively, against Vanderbilt (16-6, 4-5).
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) February 5, 2025
The Commodores led at the half 36-35. A similar story to their last game against Oklahoma, where they lost after having a half-time lead.
Jason Edwards led the Commodores with 20 points, hitting multiple contested pull-up jumpers. Florida native Jaylen Carey contributed 15 points before fouling out. Vanderbilt was able to keep the game close, but could not keep up with the Gators’ second-half offensive surge. The Gators outscored Vanderbilt 51-39 in the second half, thanks to an efficient 3-point shooting effort, going 7 for 11 from 3. The Gators made 10 of 11 shots over a nine-minute span in the second half to put the game away.
Aberdeens Aggression
With Clayton out, Denzel Aberdeen was the new floor general. He looked like a seasoned veteran in his first career start. Aberdeen played 18 minutes, going 4 for 8 from the field with nine points and two assists in the first half. He was aggressive from the start, attacking the rim to either set up a floater or kick out for a perimeter 3. He even hit a 3 from NBA range as the shot clock expired.
His most impressive game stat: zero turnovers.
“[Tyler] Tanner is one of the best on-ball defenders in the country. He didn’t allow him to force any turnovers on him,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “He commanded the game in the second half. We had him start a lot of the high-ball screen action. He did everything we asked him to do and more tonight.”
With Walter Clayton Jr. ruled out tonight, this is Denzel’s time to dominate.
Next man up mentality.
Tip off at 7.#florida #vanderbilt pic.twitter.com/MvRet0Jbkl
— Jesse Bratman (@jessebratman) February 4, 2025
New Rotation
The Gators usually have an eight-man rotation, but Tuesday Isaiah Brown and Urban Klavzar got meaningful minutes with Clayton out. Seizing his opportunity, Klazvar hit back-to-back 3s that pushed the Gator lead from three to nine at 63-54 with 8:13 left. The key stretch of the game rested on the shoulders of the Slovenian sophomore.
“I feel like I’m a pretty good coach to play for when you are a shooter. I was telling him if you don’t shoot it when you are open you are going to come out of the game,” Golden said. “Once he made that first 3 I was pretty confident the second one was going to go in. You could tell he felt it a little bit. He got a little confidence and just let it rip. Nothing but net on both of them.”
Klavzar’s contribution was the defining moment of his young career.
“It felt special, especially after the second one when the whole arena kind of erupted,” Klavzar said.
Opposite wing triple in transition.
Welcome to the Urban Klavžar experience. pic.twitter.com/gIY7tPrcsn
— Florida Basketball Hour (@FloridaBBHour) February 5, 2025
Richard’s Revenge
After Richard only attempted two field goals against Tennessee, Golden emphasized manufacturing some looks for his third-leading scorer. Alijah Martin was hardly a factor, returning late in the first half after going to the locker room with a hip injury with about 10 minutes into play.
Twizz did that 🥶 pic.twitter.com/ao7XykADor
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) February 5, 2025
“For him to come back and have a game like this in a night where we needed him the most was absolutely huge for us,” Golden said. “Obviously Walt gets a lot of credit, he deserves it. Amart [Martin] gets a lot of credit, he deserves it. Will is part of that group for me. He’s in that trio. He deserves as much love and respect as those other guys.”
Richard sat on the bench for less than a minute. His game-high 21 points was scored on efficiency, going 8 for 11 (72.7%) from the field and 5 of 7 (71.4%) from 3.
Richard’s 3-point excellence set up open looks for the front court, when Vanderbilt defenders would over commit to defending the perimeter. Late in the game, Condon got multiple dunks off of passes from the perimeter that sailed over the heads of Vanderbilt defenders. Condon was 7 of 8 on shots in the paint, adding four assists and zero turnovers to his 19 points.
“The defense came out to the 3-point shooters,” Condon said. “It created space for me down low, being able to create more one-on-one battles.”
Up Next
The Gators will face their toughest battle yet, traveling to “The Jungle” at No. 1 Auburn. The Tigers (21-1, 9-0) picked up their ninth SEC win in a row by destroying Oklahoma (16-6, 3-6), 98-70, Tuesday.
The Gators will have the opportunity to hand Auburn its first SEC loss (4 p.m. ET tip Saturday, ESPN, 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF). The status of Clayton Jr. and Martin for that game is unknown.
