Records: Florida 20-3, 7-3 SEC; Auburn 21-2, 9-1 SEC
Next Up: Tuesday, Feb. 11, 7 p.m. EST, at #22/RV Mississippi State, ESPN2
Notable
* Florida earned its first road win vs. #1 in program history, as Walter Clayton Jr. led the Gators with 19 points and Alex Condon earned a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
* After falling behind 15-5 in the early minutes, Florida outscored Auburn 43-23 over the final 14:00 of the first half to take a 48-38 lead into the break.
* The Gators pushed their lead as large as 21 in the second half.
* Thomas Haugh added 16 points off the bench. Will Richard scored 12, and Denzel Aberdeen tallied 10 in his second consecutive start.
* Florida improves to 4-17 all-time vs. the AP #1 team, including 2-0 this season, and 1-8 on the road.
* Florida became the fifth team all-time to post wins against two different #1 teams in a season.
* 2024-25, Florida; Tennessee, at Auburn
* 2022-23, Alabama; vs. North Carolina, at Houston
* 2021-22, Arkansas; vs. Gonzaga, Auburn
* 1992-93, Georgia Tech; Duke, vs. North Carolina
* 1989-90, Oklahoma; Kansas, Missouri
* With his first basket today – a logo 3 – Clayton reached the 1,000-point mark as a Gator and now sits at 1,017 points for UF. He is the 57th player all-time to score 1,000 points at Florida, the fifth to reach the milestone within his first two seasons at UF and the 15th to do so over any two-season span (first since Kenny Boynton, 2011-13).
* Clayton also extended his UF record streak to 45 straight appearances with a 3-point field goal.
* After using the same starting five for the first 21 games, the Gators have had a new starting lineup in each of the past two games. Aberdeen made his second consecutive start, filling in for Alijah Martin, who missed Saturday’s contest.
* Condon has posted a double-double in both of Florida’s wins vs. #1 this season (12 points, 12 rebounds vs. Tennessee).
* Urban Klavžar hit three 3-pointers, including two in a 13-second span in the second half to push UF’s lead to 21. He finishes the week 5-for-5 from 3-point range.
* Florida snapped Auburn’s 14-game winning streak and gave the Tigers their first home loss of the season.
* The win marked Florida’s third double-digit comeback of the season, overcoming an early 15-5 deficit. It’s UF’s third of the season and 11th under Golden.
* The win was Florida’s eighth all-time in a top-10 matchup (8-18) and first on the road (1-11).
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening statement…
“Just an incredible win for our program. I thought our guys were fantastic for 40 minutes tonight. We were able to withstand a little rush early in the game, which we knew we were going to see. The last 36 minutes of the game, I thought we were just about as good as you could be in an environment like this. We took care of the basketball, limited their opportunities to run out in transition. We rebounded really well until about the last eight minutes of the game. I thought we defended very well, limited their opportunities to get transition baskets, which is a huge key to giving yourself a chance to compete in here. As I told the guys in the locker room, to win a game like this you’ve got to step up and make some shots. We made 13 threes, we were 15-for-18 from the foul line, and our players deserve all the credit for this victory today.”
On the historical importance, getting the first road win vs. #1 and snapping Auburn’s home win streak…
“It’s incredible. I’m very proud of our program and where it is in Year 3. Again, I think it speaks a lot about our staff and our players to be able to come into an environment like this. Obviously, I worked here for two years, and I know what being able to compete in here is all about. Obviously, Bruce [Pear] and their program has done an incredible job. Best team in the country. One of, if not the best environments in America. The crowd is just insane. You make one mistake and the place is going nuts. Again, I think the biggest key was the mental toughness of our team. We just executed for 37 minutes. In that second half, it felt like we were out there forever. I kept looking up at the clock and it’s still 13 minutes, 12 minutes. It just seemed like it was never going to run out. But at halftime we talked to the guys about wanting to play 60 more minutes, not just 20. It’s a huge win for us. It’s a really big win for us. Obviously, it’s a needle-mover in terms of NCAA seeding. It’s a needle-mover in terms of where we finish in the SEC. I’d be hard-pressed to believe there’s going to be another club that’s going to be able to come in here in conference play and get a win.”
Senior G Walter Clayton Jr.
On how his ankle felt coming off the injury, especially with a fast start…
“Ankle’s fine now. Training team did a good job just all week being in there with me, so the ankle’s doing good. I’ve still been in the gym getting my shots up, so no surprise.”
On the team rallying for two shorthanded wins this week…
“I think we’ve all got a ‘next man up’ mentality. Alijah [Martin] wasn’t on the court, but Alijah’s still there. He was talking the whole game. He was telling us what he’s seeing. Same thing when I was on the bench. I was just telling the guys what I was seeing. So it was a lot of great communication between us, and we executed like Coach said.”
On his nine assists and the team’s 22…
“The ball was definitely moving around great today. Guys were just hitting shots. Urb [Klavzar] was hitting shots. Zel [Aberdeen] was hitting shots. Will [Richard] was hitting shots. Condo [Alex Condon] and the bigs were hitting shots. That’s good execution on our part, and that’s where a lot of the assists came from.”
Sophomore F/C Alex Condon
On fighting through the slow start…
“We came in with the right mentality. We went down at the start, but didn’t get too worked about it. We just slowly came back and then we weren’t playing around with the lead. We were composed and didn’t turn it over in critical situations.”
Sophomore F Thomas Haugh
On rallying to finish the first half strong…
“We went on that run in the first quarter [of the game] and we were all like, ‘It’s OK. It’s another game in the SEC.’ Let’s go! Let’s do what we need to do.”
