Gators Play Giveaway In Loss to Virginia

Friday, November 10

Charlotte, NC

7 PM

Florida Gators

1-1,0-0SEC

Virginia

2-0,0-0ACC

Team	1	2	F
Virginia	39	34	73
Florida	35	35	70

Virginia's smother defense forced Walter Clayton Jr. and his Florida teammates into 16 turnovers.

Gators Play Giveaway In Loss to Virginia

Saturday, November 11, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – It had the makings of potentially great victory. Instead, the Florida Gators will look at Friday night's Hall of Fame Classic as one that got away.

Or better put, one that was given away.

UF had its chances in its 73-70 loss to Virginia in their matchup at Spectrum Center. Despite trailing by 11 inside 14 minutes to play, the Gators reeled off a run of a dozen consecutive points to retake the lead momentarily, with about eight minutes left. From there, the teams were tied or traded leads 11 times the rest of the way, including eight times in the final four minutes, but it was a sloppy sequence of events in the finals second that had the Gators – one in particular – hanging their heads on the way to the team bus.

"I can't be turning the ball over like that," junior point guard Walter Clayton said.

Clayton, the transfer from Iona, had two brutal giveaways in the final 15 seconds; the first when the Cavaliers were clinging to a one-point lead and the second when the margin was just two and the Gators were working for a tying or winning last-second shot attempt.

Yes, Clayton's turnovers were loud because of time and score, but the Gators (1-1) had 16 turnovers as a team against the Cavaliers (2-0) and their notoriously disciplined pack-line defense that was credited with an eye-gouging 15 steals.

"The turnovers are what we're going to kick ourselves about," UF coach Todd Golden said. "Some unforced ones. A lot of them were live-ball turnovers. They had 15 steals, which is an insane number and something you don't see very often."

Virginia 6-11 forward **Blake Buchanan** (0) challenges Florida 7-1 center **Micah Handlogten** on his way to a game-high 18 points.

UVA 6-foot-11 freshman backup forward Blake Buchanan scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench. Wrapped in those points was a 10-for-16 effort from the free-throw line, including three of four in the last 1:03 that proved the difference in the game. Cavs ball-hawking senior guard Reese Beekman added 13 points, three rebounds, five assists and four steals in playing to his 2023 Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year bona fides. Forward Ryan Dunn had six points, eight rebounds and six steals, as the Cavs took advantage of the Gators' willingness (and carelessness) in challenging the UVA passing lanes.

"Last-man standing game, and if you can have that mindset of being relentless defensively and offensively, that's the name of the game," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. "You're going to make mistakes, but over the course of the game that [mentality] will take its toll."

Florida was led by guard Will Richard's 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and the front-court duo of 7-1 center Micah Handlogten and 6-10 forward Tyrese Samuel became the first pair of Gators in three years to post double-doubles in the same game. Handlogten, a Charlotte product, had 14 points and 14 rebounds, with Samuel adding 10 points and 11 boards. Sophomore guard Riley Kugel, after a 1-for-8 shooting start, finished with 14 points, with Clayton adding 12 points, four rebounds and five assists.

The Gators blasted the Cavs on the glass, 47-30, but helped the possessions even out via the turnovers (Clayton and Kugel combined for nine). UVA, meanwhile, committed just five.

"Big game-changer. To have 16 turnovers is a big deal for us," Samuel said. "We have to take care of the ball better. If we had 11 it would have still been bad, but we probably would have come out with the win."

UVA forward Blake Buchanan (0) was a problem at both ends Friday, as UF's **Riley Kuge**l (2) found out.

Buchanan, the college rookie from C'ouer d'Alene, Idaho who scored just one point in Virginia's season-opening win Monday over Tarleton State, sank a pair of free throws with 1:03 to play that gave the Cavs a 71-69 lead. The two-point margin was cut in half when Clayton hit one of two free throws with 51.8 to go, a play that was followed by a travel call with 28 seconds remaining against Beekman, who would soon atone for the miscue.

The Gators, down one, tried to work for something inside. Clayton probed the perimeter, outside the 3-point line, moving right and leaving his feet to try and force a pass to Samuel in the post. The ball was tipped and gathered by Buchanan, who was fouled and made one of two free throws with 12.3 seconds to go. The lead was two.

At the UF end, again it was Clayton, this time with the clock at around five seconds, dribbling to the sidelines in front of his bench, where Beekman locked him up, stole the ball and took off downcourt before being fouled trying to dribble out the game. He made one of two free throws with 0.7 to go and Clayton's three-quarter-court heave was well off.

Two possessions with a chance to take the lead. Not even a shot attempt on either.

"I think [Clayton] and the rest of the guys are pretty upset. This is a game we were looking forward to and we fell a little short," said Golden, who was unwavering in his support of Clayton, the 2023 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year. "The staff – the team – loves him and we're really confident in him as we move forward. We're asking a lot of him right now."

Clayton logged 35 minutes, almost exclusively on the ball, and with Beekman, one of the best defenders in the country, in his face. Clayton had nine points, four rebounds, five assists and five turnovers over those 35 minutes, with a chunk of those minutes (as well as some from Kugel and Richard) in the very near future – as in starting next Friday against Florida State – ticketed for grad-transfer point guard Zyon Pullin.

Pullin, the sturdy 6-4, 206-pounder from California-Riverside, per NCAA rules has to sit out the season's first three games because he played in the Portsmouth Invitational during his time in the NBA evaluation process before opting to return to school and enter the transfer portal.

"When ZP gets back next week it's going to take a little pressure off the rest of our backcourt and allow him to take some of those minutes and allow those guys to rest a little bit," Golden said. "But these guys, Riley and Walt, played 35 each. They didn't have their best games, but I thought they stepped up in the second half."

UF trailed by as many as 11 in the second half before staging a rally of 12 straight points to take the lead and set up the back-and-forth home stretch.

"We battled back and had multiple opportunities at the end of the game," said Handlogten, who hit seven of his 10 shots before fouling out with 2:44 to go. "It was a tough way to lose."

And no one was taking it harder than Clayton.

Junior guard **Will Richard** (5) tries some settling, encouraging words for **Walter Clayton Jr.** late in the game.

"It was talked about when I came here, about all the minutes I would be playing," he said. "It's a bump in the road. I have to prepare myself better to be able to go out there and play for 35 or 36 or however many minutes I need to. It's my fault."

On a night the Gators gave it away so often, shot only 40 percent overall, 28 percent from distance (7-for-25) and got outscored 26-4 in bench points, there was plenty of blame to go around.

"Super disappointed that we lost," Golden said. "But I'm confident in this team and really excited for the rest of our season."