No. 2 Florida Men’s Basketball Proves Ranking In Leveling Oklahoma

No. 2 Florida defended home court Tuesday in a blitzing of Oklahoma 85-63 for its fifth consecutive win.

After an embarrassing loss in Knoxville 64-44 on Feb. 1, the Gators (23-3, 10-3 SEC) have cranked things up a notch. Even without leading rebounder and third-leading scorer Alex Condon, the Gators showed no weaknesses at the O’Connell Center. They had control of this contest from start to finish.

Florida tied a season low with six turnovers and improved to 13-1 at home. The dynamic guard trio of Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard combined for 46 points on 15-of-31 efficiency.

Walter Clayton Jr. says the trio of himself, Will Richard, and Alijah Martin is the best in the country.

"It's as simple as that."

— Nick Marcinko (@marcinko_nick) February 19, 2025

Thomas Haugh, who received his second career start, has picked up right where Condon left off in terms of offensive rebounding and defensive energy. In addition to four offensive rebounds, he took Oklahoma’s leading scorer Jalon Moore out of the game with his active hands and strong post defense. Moore usually gives the Sooners 17.2 points a game, but only had 11 points on eight field goal attempts. Five of Moore’s points came from free throws.

“Having Tommy out there a majority of the time against him [Moore] was really good for us,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “I thought we did a good job with our switches. Just keeping him in front, making him move the ball as opposed to taking advantage of close-outs and drives.”

Projected NBA lottery pick Jeremiah Fears could have been the only Sooner player on the floor and the score would not have been much different. He finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He finished the first half with 14 of Oklahoma’s 24 points.

Small Ball

Florida utilized Richard at the four for 16 minutes. Micah Handlogten and Rueben Chinyelu were never on the floor together. This was the first time Golden has gone with a four-guard lineup; this time to match an undersized Oklahoma team (16-10, 3-10).

“I’m a versatile player,” Richard said. “I’m willing to do anything it takes to win the game. If it means me playing the four, getting there and rebounding, I’m going to do it.”

The 6-foot-4 Richard finished with a game-high eight rebounds.

“When Will is active on the glass like that it makes us really, really good,” Golden said. “The great thing about having guys like him and Mart is they’re both veterans, they’re both strong, they can both guard the fours a little bit if we need them to. It gives us another element.”

The four-guard lineup kick started a 17-3 run midway through the first half that put the game out of reach for the Sooners. The run featured five 3-pointers by four different players to build a 20-point advantage.

Urban Klavzar utilized his minutes in this guard-forward rotation with a career-high 10 points. Known for his 3-point shooting, Klavzar used his image to gain a step to the rim. He had two strong drives to the bucket, including one as time expired in the first half.

This was Martin’s second game back from a hip injury sustained against Vanderbilt on Feb. 4. He followed an 11-point performance off the bench with a 14 point, five rebound and two steal performance in the same role Tuesday. With Denzel Aberdeen playing the best basketball of his career, it will be interesting to see how Golden deals with the starting lineup.

“I thought he was himself in the second half of our last game,” Golden said. “By no means was he not good [in the first half], but it took him a little bit. Tonight it felt like old school Amart out there.”

STEAL ➡️ ALLEY OOP

📺ESPN2
Gators 28 | Sooners 14 pic.twitter.com/S3jtutgg7C

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) February 19, 2025

First-Team All-American?

It is no surprise Clayton Jr. led the Gators in scoring with 18 points. He shot 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3, hitting two from NBA range late in the shot clock.

“I was telling my guy to get up [on Clayton]. I was running to the sideline ‘get up, get up, get up’ and he still hit it,” Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said. “ I got to go to a coaching clinic and figure out how to coach that better.”

With the regular season coming to a close, there is a legitimate case for Clayton Jr. to be a First-Team All-American player. Florida has never had a player achieve that title.

“He hits shots that very few other guys in college basketball would even think about taking and he does it very well and very efficient,” Golden said. “His floor game has improved so much. To have another game tonight, two assist zero turnovers, says so much about the maturation of his game. When you are the second best team in America, your best player probably deserves to be on the first team.”

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Up Next

The Gators face LSU in Baton Rouge (6 p.m. tip Saturday, SEC Network, 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF). The Tigers (14-12, 3-10) beat South Carolina (10-16, 0-13), 81-67, at home Tuesday night.