Florida Gators Stick Around Top Five in Latest AP Top 25

Gainesville, Fla. — Despite winning both games last week, the Florida Gators men’s basketball team retained the No. 5 spot in the newest AP Top 25 on Monday.

It’s not too surprising to see the Gators stay at No. 5. All four teams ahead of them didn’t lose any games during this previous week either.

There was almost a scare for the Gators, though. In the first game of the week against South Carolina, they struggled to get a grip on the game until the final moments to pull out a 70-69 win in Columbia.

The savior in the contest was Will Richard, who has consistently found himself right in the middle of the big moment this year for his team. Richard hit the final in the game, delicately laying up the ball off of the glass for the win.

“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Richard said after the win. “The play was to get me a little slip three or get Walt a layup, but I saw the [defender] close out a little hard and I went. [Alex] Condon did a great job of ducking, and I just had to do a great job of finishing it.”

He also finished with a team-high 22 points, shooting 9-for-14 from the field and 3-for-5 from behind the arc.

Road wins are never easy to attain in this league, which makes this win that more important later down the road.

Following this victory, the next team up for Florida was the Georgia Bulldogs and former head coach Mike White, as they welcomed him back to Gainesville on Saturday.

And, while many might’ve expected some added emotions and a highly competitive game, it was almost the opposite.

Florida controlled this one from start to finish really, winning 89-59. For this win, much of the credit early on goes to senior Alijah Martin.

Martin scored 17 points against the Bulldogs and all of them came in the first half. He had four first-half steals as well.

“Just dominate,” Martin responded when asked about his early mindset against the Bulldogs. “That's all I want to do is dominate and have fun, man.”

In addition to Martin’s output, two others had solid outings on Saturday. Thomas Haugh recorded his second career double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Alex Condon logged 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Condon was also given the assignment of guarding potential lottery pick Asa Newell and held him to 4-for-14 from the field.

“He’d been playing pretty well, so we just tried to keep the ball out of his left hand when he was driving and make him finish with his right,” Condon said on defending Newell.

This win over the Bulldogs pushed the Gators' streak of victory over their program to 12 straight. This is the longest streak in the series between the two and is tied for the second-longest against any SEC opponent for the Gators.

Some other notable details from this week were that Walter Clayton Jr. extended his program record of consecutive games of hitting at least one three-pointer to 43 games and with his scoring efforts against both South Carolina and Georgia, Martin has now eclipsed 14 points in every SEC game so far this season.

Florida hits the road to Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday for a rematch with the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers. The rematch is scheduled to tip at noon and will be televised on ESPN.