GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. has earned a place on the Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year Midseason Team, announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on Friday.
Clayton posted 19 points in each of the Gators’ top-25 road wins over the last week, including last Saturday’s victory at Auburn, the program’s first all-time road win at a No. 1 opponent. Clayton followed that up with four 3-pointers at Mississippi State, his eighth game of the season with four or more 3-point field goals.
The Lake Wales native averages 17.5 points per game, 18.0 in Southeastern Conference play, and has dished a team-leading 94 assists. Earlier this week, he also earned a place on the Wooden Award’s updated watch list<https://floridagators.com/news/2025/2/11/mens-basketball-clayton-named-to-wooden-award-late-midseason-top-20.aspx>.
The Gators return to the court at home on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. to take on South Carolina in a sold-out SEC contest.
Naismith Trophy Midseason Team
Airious “Ace” Bailey | Rutgers
Johni Broome | Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr. | Florida
Donovan Dent | New Mexico
Hunter Dickinson | Kansas
Eric Dixon | Villanova
Cooper Flagg | Duke
Keshon Gilbert | Iowa St
PJ Haggerty | Memphis
Dylan Harper | Rutgers
Chucky Hepburn | Louisville
Graham Ike | Gonzaga
Kasparas Jakučionis | Illinois
Tre Johnson | Texas
Kam Jones | Marquette
Curtis Jones | Iowa State
Ryan Kalkbrenner | Creighton
Alex Karaban | UConn
Trey Kaufman-Renn | Purdue
Chaz Lanier | Tennessee
RJ Luis Jr. | St. John’s
Ryan Nembhard | Gonzaga
Derik Queen | Maryland
Maxime Raynaud | Stanford
Mark Sears | Alabama
Braden Smith | Purdue
John Tonje | Wisconsin
Danny Wolf | Michigan
Zakai Zeigler | Tennessee
