Clayton Jr. Leaves No Doubt as No. 5 Florida Dominates Ole Miss on Senior Night

The senior All-American candidate scored a game-high 27 points with eight assists in his final game at Exactech Arena.

Walter Clayton Jr. shined with a 23-point, eight-rebound effort in his final appearance at Exactech Arena with the Florida Gators. / Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- In his final home game with the Florida Gators, senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. saved one of his best performances for last.

With much of his family, including his young daughter Leilani, in the crowd, the All-American candidate and Bob Cousey Award finalist scored 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting with five 3-pointers, sparking the No. 5 Gators to a dominate 90-71 win over Ole Miss on Saturday.

"Emotions were high, obviously. Been here two years, made basically family here," Clayton Jr. said. "It's always going to be a family here with the coaching staff and all the fans. Just a lot of love."

Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. walks with his parents and daughter, Leilani, as part of the team's Senior Day festivities. / Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

Florida's three seniors in Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin accounted for over half of the Gators' point total on Saturday with Martin scoring 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting, and Richard adding 10 of his own. The trio, who are largely considered one of the best guard groups in the nation, walked off Billy Donovan Court one last time to a standing ovation from the 11,000 fans inside Exactech Arena.

"Emotions were definitely high," Richard said. "Just on how much we've been through in this program, trying to change it around to become the national powerhouse as it was. It's been special."

Florida Gators guard Will Richard celebrates with family during Saturday's Senior Day festivities. Richard is one of two players (Denzel Aberdeen being the other) left from Todd Golden's first season in 2022. / Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

While the seniors shined as they said goodbye to the home crowd in Gainesville, an underclassman dominated in nearly every aspect against the Rebels. Sophomore Alex Condon continued a recent string of dominant performances with his second-straight double-double.

Fresh off a 27-point, 10-rebound effort in Wednesday's win over No. 7 Alabama, Condon lifted Florida with 17-point, 15-rebound effort on Saturday. Six of his points came off hitting a pair of 3-pointers, including one with 4:02 left to extend the Gators' lead to 21 points.

"Hard pressed to find a guy that deserves SEC player the week more than him," head coach Todd Golden said. "And he's just playing with a lot of confidence right now, shooting the ball well, just really getting on the glass. You know, that's something that when he's playing with that reckless abandon, going to the backboard and clearing it, you know he's on his stuff, and just playing with a lot of confidence right now. It's fun to see."

Despite what eventually became another dominant win in conference play for the Gators, Ole Miss gave Florida a scare in the first half after forcing the Gators into nine turnovers, and the Rebels carried it over with an early run in the second half to make it a three-point game.

From there, it was all Florida.

The Gators got buckets from all five of its starters, including 3-pointers from Clayton Jr. and fellow senior Will Richard, to go on 14-0 run, which put Florida ahead 54-37 with 15:45 left in the game. Florida never led by less than 12 points from that point on.

Clayton Jr. added back-to-back 3-pointers to push Florida's lead to 18 points with 12:21 left and an assist to Micah Handlogten put the Gators up 66-46 less than a minute later. From that point on, the Gators mostly relied on getting to the free throw line with 10 makes in the last nine minutes, and multiple field goal droughts from the Rebels.

"In my opinion, they're a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament," Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said of Florida. "I don't know if there's a more talented team in college basketball. That's why they're deserving of the attention and respect they're given."

"starting to get hot on senior night" 🔊

📺SECN
Gators 64 | Rebels 46 pic.twitter.com/8rJlxajqwi

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) March 9, 2025

Florida Gators guard Alijah Martin and family members pose with head coach Todd Golden during the team's Senior Day festivities. Martin averaged 14.5 points per game in his lone regular season with the Gators. / Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

Next Up

With the regular season now concluded, the Gators (27-4, 14-4 SEC) turn its attention to the SEC Tournament. Already having locked up the No. 2 seed after Wednesday's win over No. 7 Alabama, Florida will have a double-bye and not play until the quarterfinals on March 14.

"As we just talked about with our players in the locker room, I want them to be very proud of the effort and the success that we've had to this point, but we have a lot of work left to do and a lot of things left to still accomplish," Golden said. We'll get back together Monday, have a great week of practice and get ready to play next Friday in Nashville."

The full SEC Tournament bracket can be found below.

The 2025 SEC Tournament Bracket. pic.twitter.com/rqKcTtjQLD

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 9, 2025

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