Florida Gators

What Happened

ATLANTA -- Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. scored 25 points, including five 3-pointers, as the ninth-ranked Gators used a blistering second half on both ends to trounce Arizona State 83-66 in their meeting Saturday in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event at State Farm Arena. With the win, UF remained undefeated while also matching the second-best start in the program's 118-year history.

Clayton, the team's leading scorer coming in at 18.4 points per game, finished eight of 18 from the floor, including 5-for-12 from the arc to join Anthony Roberson (2005) as the only UF players in the 37-year history of the 3-point line to make at least five in three straights games. Senior guard Will Richard, playing about 30 minutes from his hometown of Fairburn, Ga., added 16 points, while fifth-year guard Alijah Martin, the transfer from Florida Atlantic, stuffed his stat line with the first double-double as a Gator, finishing with 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.

UF shot 47.8 for the game, but it was the first 14 minutes of the second half -- when the Gators went on a 12-for-20 tear at one point to open a 29-point lead at 79-50 -- that things got ridiculously out of hand. When it was over, the Gators had their 10th double-digit margin of victory in as many games this season. 

Florida got off to a good start, hitting 10 of its first 20 field-goal attempts to help build a 13-point lead, at 25-12, including a sequence of four consecutive 3-pointers (two by Richard, one each by Clayton and Martin). The margin stood at 13 with just under three minutes left in the period, but the Gators went scoreless the rest of the way and the Sun Devils scored two buckets to make it a nine-point margin, 41-32 at the break. 

ASU, in its first year as a member of the Big 12 Conference and winners of six straight, pulled within eight early in the second half, but a Clayton 3 started a run of seven straight points that eventually became a 23-7 run and a 24-point lead, as UF went on to shoot 52.9 percent in the second half. 

Defensively, the Gators limited the Sun Devils to 37.1 percent for the game, just seven of 25 from deep (28.0 percent) and dominated the glass 47-27, with center Rueben Chinyelu and forward Alex Condon clearing eight boards a piece.  

What it Means

UF began the day with the nation's 212th most difficult schedule, so a second Quadrant 1 victory in as many chances (the road win over Florida State, for now, is the other) makes for a nice plum to add to the slate, with a second Q1 opportunity coming in three days (read on). The Gators also began the day as one of just seven unbeaten teams in Division I, with four others playing Saturday, as well. The last time UF started a season with 10 wins was in 2005 en route to the program's first NCAA title. The only time before that was to open the 1951-52 season. 

In the Spotlight

Clayton is playing like That Dude. 

Staggering Statistic

Arizona State, in losing for just the second time this season, started the day ranked 19th nationally in 3-point shooting at 39.5 for the season. UF held them nearly 11 percent below that number and to the second-worst long-range performance of the season. The Sun Devils' trio of Joson Sanon (54.3 percent), Adam Miller (45.7 percent) and Alston Mason (37.1) that came in at 47 percent combined went 4-for-14 (28.6 percent).  

Up Next

Florida (10-0) has two days to prep for Tuesday night's date against North Carolina (6-4) in the prestigious Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte, N.C. The Gators and Tar Heels will play for just the seventh time -- only the third time in the last 60 years -- and for the first time since a meeting in the 2014 Battle 4 Atlantis that UNC won handily by a score of 75-64.  

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu