RV/#23 Ole Miss 103, Florida 85
SJB Pavilion at Ole Miss | Oxford, Miss.
Box Score<https://floridagators.com/documents/2024/1/10/2024.01.10_Florida_at_Ole_Miss.PDF> | Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/11/17/2023-24_UFStats.pdf> | Media Resources<https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iv6cc1nl98a49pv/AAD_LkZm6hKvVz7FpyboOUR1a?dl=0>
Records: Florida 10-5, 0-2 SEC; Ole Miss 14-1, 1-1 SEC
Next up for Florida: vs. Arkansas, Saturday, Jan. 13, 4 p.m., ESPN
Notable
* Walter Clayton Jr. led the Gators with 23 points, his fifth 20-point game of the season. During the game, Clayton reached the career 1,000-point mark (243 points at UF, 771 at Iona).
* Zyon Pullin chipped in 18 and has scored in double figures in all 12 of his appearances this season.
* Alex Condon added 11 points grabbed a team-leading 15 rebounds, his second double-double and third double-figure rebounding game of the season. Condon became the first Gator this century and the first SEC player this season to grab 10 offensive rebounds in a game.
Head Coach Todd Golden
On Ole Miss’ first-half run when Tyrese Samuel went to the bench …
“Obviously, we went to our bench, and I thought it was more the backcourt. Obviously, we let the lead slip after the second media [timeout], as you mentioned, and I thought we battled to get that thing back to only a four-point game at halftime. Credit to Ole Miss, the way they came out in the second half I thought they made a lot of really tough shots early, specifically [Allen] Flanigan hit two or three of those baseline fadeaways. Those are shots that we want him to take, and you’ve got to tip your cap that he was able to knock them down. Once it snowballed a little bit, I didn’t think we did a good job pulling ourselves out. Obviously, our defensive effort tonight was atrocious, specifically in the second half. Again, this was a team that was coming off a really tough loss, and they responded really well. This was our first road game in the SEC, and we didn’t handle it very well.”
On Ole Miss’ defensive pressure…
“We didn’t handle their backcourt pressure very well at times with those turnovers. They do a good job guarding with physicality. We didn’t get rewarded very well for taking it to the rim. Obviously, [Jamarion] Sharp did a good job with his rim protection, nine blocks, but I thought we did a good job of attacking and some of those I thought maybe could’ve been fouls. But again, they just got us tonight, bottom line, end of story, especially in the second half. Like I said, we cut it to four at half, and they went 21-for-28 in the second half. It’s just terrible defense, but at the same time you’ve got to tip your cap to them making all those shots.”
On Jamarion Sharp’s impact…
“He did a good job of protecting the rim, and that’s something that’s going to be an issue for teams that play Ole Miss if he’s able to play with that physicality at the rim…He did a good job with the way that the game was played of protecting the rim, for sure.”
On any positives to take away…
“Not really in the second half. I think in the first half when the lead got to nine, we were able to cut that thing down. I thought we played with good poise at the end of the half to cut it to four and had the ball coming out [of the half]. But turnovers starting the second half kind of set the tone, and we didn’t do a good job of battling that way. So nothing that I can take right now that I’m excited about or happy about.”
Junior G Walter Clayton Jr.
On the Ole Miss defense…
“They definitely did a good job of pressuring us and taking us out of our stuff, but we knew that was coming. That’s how they play defense and we just weren’t able to run what we wanted to. On defense, they hit a lot of tough shots and got a lot of offensive rebounds.”
Freshman F Alex Condon
“We’re not sticking to our defensive principles. There are too many times when guys just go off and do their own thing. We have to establish ourselves by being strong on the defensive end. Have some pride and not be happy taking the ball out of the net every possession.”
