Florida senior guard Alijah Martin is one of three 1,000-career point scorers that has been featured in UF’s starting lineup through its first six games this season. But on Friday night, he seemingly stole the spotlight.
Averaging 13.6 points per game this season, the FAU transfer more than doubled that mark with a 32-point performance on 11-of-19 shooting from the field and 8-of-13 from 3-point range.
Behind Martin’s hot hand, No. 21 Florida (6-0) kept its undefeated record alive with a dominant 93-68 victory over Southern Illinois (2-3) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
“What I was most impressed about with our team's performance is I thought we did a really good job, and kind of talking about it before the game, of finding joy in the success of your teammates, and our guys,” UF head coach Todd Golden said. “[We] shared the ball really, really well tonight. Obviously, 25 assists, six turnovers.”
Setting the tone for the Gators from the opening bucket, Martin banged a corner 3-pointer off a well-executed inbound play from the baseline just over one minute into the contest to open the scoring.
Despite Florida being heavily favored entering the contest, the Gators didn’t grab a lead larger than eight points for the first 13-plus minutes of the game. Moreover, matters may have been even gloomier for UF in the first half if it wasn’t for a 1-for-7 shooting skid by Southern Illinois.
The Gators captured its first double-digit lead with a pair of plays that may have caused the O’Dome to erupt to the highest volume it has reached this season.
UF junior guard Denzel Aberdeen lobbed a pass to sophomore forward Alex Condon who flushed home an alley-oop dunk. Just 21 seconds later, Martin broke out on a fast break and threw down a jam of his own as Florida saw its lead grow to 29-15 with 5:56 left in the first half.
“We just started getting cleaner stops, cleaner rebounds and got out in transition,” Golden said. “When we do that we're tough to stop. Denzel [Aberdeen] threw [Condon] that alley-oop and then on the next play, we got a steal and run-out, Martin got a dunk, and then we started hitting a bunch of shots.”
Following the aforementioned highlight reel plays, it did more than just send Florida fans into a frenzy. It kick-started a 22-2 run for the Gators while they forced five Southern Illinois turnovers in a six-plus minute stretch. UF’s lead grew to 24 points with 2:32 left in the opening period following UF sophomore forward Thomas Haugh’s third 3-pointer of the first half.
Perhaps the most notable performance throughout UF’s run to close out the first half was from its bench, as Haugh had himself a night to remember,
The New Oxford, Pennsylvania, native finished with a career-high 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Haugh was also stout on the defensive end, totaling four blocks.
SIU closed out the first half on a 6-0 run but still faced a lofty 46-25 deficit at halftime. From there, the Gators only outscored the Salukis 47-43, but UF’s lead from the first half proved to be far too large to overcome.
Florida was efficient on the night offensively, shooting 35-of-75 from the field (47 percent) and 16-of-39 from 3-point range (41 percent). This all came in spite of a quiet night from UF senior guard Walter Clayton Jr., who finished with just seven points on 3-of-10 shooting from the floor. Rounding out the Gators’ offensive efforts was Condon with eight points, four assists and three rebounds.
“[We] have not been able to play 40 complete minutes defensively or on the glass,” Golden said. “I thought we let ourselves off the hook that way [tonight]. But again, those are probably hyper-critical thoughts after a 25-point win. Really thought our guys did a good job start to finish tonight.”
Next, the Gators will take on Wake Forest at the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Florida, on Thanksgiving Day. The Feast Week tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Contact Max Tucker at mtucker@alligator.org. Follow him on X @Max_Tuckr1.
Max Tucker is a senior transfer student at UF. After obtaining his A.A. in Journalism from Santa Fe College in 2023, he chose to further his education at Florida's College of Journalism and Communications. Max is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a specialization in sports and media. He enjoys golfing and going to the beach with his friends in his free time.
