Records: Florida 19-3, 6-3 SEC; Vanderbilt 16-6, 4-5 SEC
Next Up: Saturday, Feb. 8, 8 p.m. EST, at #1 Auburn, ESPN
Notable
* Will Richard’s 21 points led the way as Florida got contributions up and down the roster in the absence of leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. (ankle), while Alex Condon added 19 points and nine rebounds.
* Florida used a 16-4 second-half run to seize control of the game.
* With the Gators trailing 50-49, Sam Alexis and Will Richard hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a quick 6-0 spurt and a 55-50 lead. Minutes later, ahead 57-54, Urban Klavžar hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Florida a nine-point edge with 8:12 remaining.
* Neither team led by more than five through the first 31 minutes until Klavžar’s first of the two 3s put UF up six at the 8:47 mark of the second half.
* Richard posted his sixth game as a Gator with five or more 3-pointers. He now has 163 3-point field goals at Florida, passing Dorian Finney-Smith’s 159 (2013-16) for the most by any Florida transfer.
* Entering the night, Klavžar had appeared twice for 5:40 in SEC play without a point. He saw 12:37 of action and had six points.
* Denzel Aberdeen made his first career start in his 65th game played, committing zero turnovers in 35 minutes to go with 13 points and three assists.
* Since 1996, only Chris Richard played more games than Aberdeen before his first career start.
* Most appearances before first start (since 1996):
* 112th game – Chris Richard
* 65th game – Denzel Aberdeen
* 54th game – Bonell Colas
* 52nd game – Jacob Kurtz
* 48th game – Jason Jitoboh, Matt Bonner
* The Gators have hit the halfway point in their SEC schedule at 6-3.
* Florida improves to 11-1 at home this season.
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening statement…
“Great program win for us tonight. I thought we had to deal with a little adversity tonight not having Walter [Clayton Jr.] out there tonight. And, listen, we had an opportunity for the other guys to step up and take advantage of an opportunity created by Walt not being out there. And I thought Denzel [Aberdeen] was fantastic; 35 minutes tonight, no turnovers, did an incredible job controlling the game. Will [Richard] obviously played great, 21 points, seven rebounds, three or four assists no turnovers. Condo [Alex Condon], almost a double-double for us, zero turnovers. And I’m glad you guys spoke to Urbie [Urban Klavžar]. I thought that little run in the second half sending the game from up three to nine was just huge for us and a big lift in a time when we needed it the most, and I’m happy for him. He has exhibited great patience and has been a great teammate all year, and you can see how great of a teammate he has been by the reaction of his teammates when he when he made those shots. They were sprinting up to halfcourt to show him some love, but honestly I’m as proud of this win as I am of any of the others this season due to the circumstances. Vanderbilt’s a very good team. They are really hard to guard and we stepped up and had a really nice second half.”
On Klavžar’s patience and ability to step up when called upon…
“Yeah, we talked to him before the game and just made sure he understood he was going to be in the rotation. I feel like I’m a pretty good coach to play for when you’re a shooter, because I just told him if you don’t shoot it when you’re open, you’re going to come out of the game. I thought he passed one in the first half in front of the bench, drove baseline, took like a tough floater and I was like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to shoot that three. You’re open. You’re one of the best shooters I’ve seen. Let it fly.’ He did in the second half, and once he made that first three I was pretty confident the second one was going to go in. You could tell he felt it a little bit, got a little confidence and just let it rip, and nothing but net on both of them. Those were huge, huge shots for us and I’m very proud of him.”
On Denzel Aberdeen’s first career start at Florida …
“I thought he handled it fantastic. No turnovers. Again, controlled the game. [Tyler] Tanner is one of the best on-ball defenders in the country, and he didn’t allow to force any turnovers on him. Again, he just commanded the game in the second half. We had him start a lot of the high ball screen action. They were putting two on the ball and he’s strong with it and he did everything we asked him to do and more tonight.”
Junior G Denzel Aberdeen
On making his first start…
“It felt great. I’m more thankful that we got the win. Everybody came together, everybody stepped up, from Zay [Isaiah Brown] to Urb [Urban Klavžar] hitting big shots. I’m just glad we got the win.”
On preparing to start…
“I’m prepared every game, no matter if I start or not. But I knew during walkthrough today that I was going to start, but I was just preparing my mind to be ready, and I knew we had to get a win.”
Sophomore F/C Alex Condon
On the outside shooting freeing things up inside…
“Yeah, it got the defense a little bit coming out to the three-point shooters, so I think it created space for me down low. [Made] it more one-on-one battles and letting guys box me out, just trying to get around those box outs, so me and Tommy [Haugh] did a good job of rebounding the ball on the offensive end.”
Sophomore G Urban Klavžar
On what the moment was like hitting back-to-back 3-pointers…
“Yeah, it definitely felt great when I hit the first one because before I missed three shots, and I know I wasn’t hitting them before as well in other games. But definitely felt special, especially after the second one when the whole arena kind of erupted. It was really great, and I’m just happy we got the win.”
Senior G Will Richard
On overcoming being shorthanded…
“Yeah, it was definitely a big adversity test, but we came in with the mindset of next man up, and our guys off the bench came in and did a great job of keeping us going, keeping us in the same rhythm.”
On Urban Klavžar’s two big 3-pointers…
“Yeah, it doesn’t surprise us at all. He does it in practice, he works hard, so, when he gets in there we tell him to play with confidence because he’s built for moments like that.”
