Florida senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. stood at the SEC logo near half court — a place on the hardwood where he’s continuously sunk mesmerizing 3-pointers this season. However, this time around, the first-team All-American fulfilled a different role.
The Gators were getting all they could handle from a ferocious Missouri team in the second half. A signature Clayton Jr. logo shot would’ve seemingly been the dagger, but, instead, a different prolific Florida guard delivered on Friday.
Clayton Jr. swiftly swung a pass beyond the arc to the left wing with just over three minutes left, hitting fellow senior guard Alijah Martin square in his shooting pocket. He rose in the air and shot it straight through the nylon, helping inch the Gators one step closer to an SEC Championship.
No. 4 Florida (28-4, 14-4 SEC) never trailed against a No. 21 Missouri squad (22-11, 10-8) that showed all the signs of a team looking to better its NCAA Tournament resume. The Gators defeated the Tigers 95-81 in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals in Nashville on Friday.
Despite leaving the game with leg cramps in the second half, Clayton Jr. returned to play and led all scorers with 18 points. The Lake Wales, Florida, native shot 3 of 4 from 3-point range, dished out six assists and grabbed three rebounds.
Martin and senior guard Will Richard each added 17 points for the Gators, with Richard burying three 3-pointers. Sophomore forward Thomas Haugh rounded out Florida’s double-digit scorers with 16 points, seven boards and five assists in just 27 minutes.
Richard, who ironically noted after Florida’s loss to Missouri on Jan. 14 that the Gators couldn’t start a game as slow as they did then for the remainder of the season, had the hot hand early in Friday’s contest. The senior guard knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the first minute of regulation, then made a 2-point jumper that put the Gators ahead 10-0.
UF initially didn’t ease off the gas despite its hot start. A 3-pointer from well beyond the arc by Clayton Jr. pushed the Gators ahead 20-9 seven minutes into the first half. It was an offensive explosion for Florida en route to opening 9 of 13 from the field.
However, UF’s lead was cut down to 28-24 with eight minutes left in the first half when Missouri graduate student guard Caleb Grill flushed a dunk in transition. But that matched as close as the Tigers would get for the rest of the game. From there, the Gators surged on a 9-2 run capped off by a highlight-worthy alley-oop jam by Clayton Jr. that extended Florida’s lead to 37-26. Richard and Haugh were solid from the charity stripe in the final minutes of the opening period, each going 2 for 2 in their respective trips to the line to help the Gators take a 50-37 advantage into halftime.
A pair of hard-nosed buckets fueled Florida’s scoring to open the second half, but not before Missouri scored four quick points. Martin finished a tough and-one layup and made his free throw. Haugh followed with an old-fashioned 3-point play of his own to put the Gators ahead 60-46.
The Tigers brought their deficit to just four points again over three minutes later with a jumper by sophomore guard Anthony Robinson. Just as UF seemed to be on upset watch, it responded — and in a big way. Sophomore forward Alex Condon dished a pass to sophomore guard Urban Klavzar from the low post for a 3-pointer. The make gave Florida some breathing room with a 70-62 edge and under 11 minutes to play.
From there, the Gators never looked back. They notched their largest lead of the game (18) with under two minutes left in regulation on a made layup by Richard.
Despite only shooting 55 field goals to Missouri’s 68, the Gators did so at an incredibly efficient clip. UF made 34 of the 55 shots it took from the floor (62%) and shot 9 of 24 (38%) from distance. It was far from the cleanest game Florida has played this season, as UF committed 16 turnovers that turned into 22 points for the Tigers. This will likely be a point of concern moving forward as postseason play continues to progress.
Defensively, the Gators held Mizzou to under 45% from the floor and at a 25% clip from behind the arc. Though it should be noted the Tigers were without their leading scorer in junior forward Mark Mitchell, who suffered a knee injury. Nevertheless, Condon held things down underneath with three blocks, while Clayton Jr. continuously gave the opposition fits on the perimeter with two steals and a block.
Next, Florida will take on the winner of No. 6 seed Kentucky and No. 3 Alabama, which play Friday night, in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday in Nashville at 3:30 p.m. ET.
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.
