ATLANTA – The three walked into the tiny post-game media room together late Saturday afternoon. The perimeter power trio of Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard had just keyed Florida's latest trouncing of an opponent and it was their collective turn to break it down.
First, though, they had to decide who sat where.
Martin told Clayton to take the middle seat. Clayton declined and told Martin to take it. Martin turned to his left and told Richard to take it. Again, the answer was no. Finally, Martin acquiesced, it was decided, because the double-double he put up in the No. 9 Gators' 83-66 throttling of Arizona State in the Holiday Hoopsgiving at State Farm Arena – his first double-double in a UF uniform --warranted center ring.
About five minutes later, as they filed out of the room in unison, Richard tossed a barb Martin's way.
"He needs media training," Richard said.
The banter was all in fun, of course. Sort of like the beautiful, chemistry-laced manner with which the Gators have played in winning their first 10 games of a season for just the third time in the program's 118-year history. Who gets credit (or the center seat) doesn't matter when the basketball is being played looks like this.
Walter Clayton scored a game-high 25 points, with five 3-pointers. Martin's double-double showed 15 points (with three 3s), 11 rebounds, plus a team-best six assists. Richard, who grew up outside Atlanta, had a happy homecoming of 16 points and six rebounds. So, 56 points and 10 3-pointers between them. Not bad.
Senior guards (from left) Walter Clayton Jr, Alijah Martin and Will Richardshared the post-game podium Saturday after combining for 56 points and 10 3-pointers.
Playing as a top 10-ranked team for the first time in five years, UF (10-0) shot 47.8 percent for the game, held ASU (8-2) to just 37.1 percent (and one of the nation's top 3-point shooting teams to only 7-for-25), smashed the Sun Devils on the glass, 47-27, with forwards Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon grabbing eight rebounds apiece, and ran another foe out of the building with 28 fast-break points.
With seven minutes to go in the game, the Gators led by 29.
"We have really good players. They've bought into each other, they play hard for each other and there's no selfishness on this team right now. I think that's a huge, huge key for our success to this point, but also moving forward," Gators coach Todd Golden said. "We talk about it a lot and it's a lot easier when you have three seniors who lead you in that [direction] and have a great understanding that they can all have success at the same time. If they don't [one night], it could be their night the next night. We've had that all year. Will scores 25 one game, Alijah scores 30, maybe Walt scores 30 … the unselfishness is contagious."
And evident in not just how they play (17 assists this game), but how they celebrate one another on the floor and up and down the bench.
Make that 10 out 10 wins for the Gators by double digits, with the average scoring margin in those victories a plus-21.1. Simply put, UF did to ASU, out of the Big 12 Conference and with the highest KenPom.com ranking of any Florida opponent this season, what it did to the likes of Jacksonville, Grambling and Florida A&M.
"No discredit to the teams we've played, but that's what good basketball looks like," Martin said.
This season, it's played on both ends. Once again, the Florida defense set in motion transition opportunities the Gators took advantage, especially in a dizzying first 15 minutes of the second half when UF, up by just eight points two minutes into the period, used a 34-13 thunderclap over the next 11 minutes to turn the game into a laugher.
"They were going to break," Clayton said. "We didn't feel like they could hang with us the whole game, [so] just keep doing what we're doing and wait for them to break."
The stage was set for that snap in the first half. The Gators opened the game by hitting 13 of their first 26 field-goal attempts to go up by 14 – at one point, Richard, Martin and Clayton combined to make four consecutive 3s – inside four minutes remaining. The lead was 13 after Clayton's third 3 of the half with 2:36 to go, but UF didn't score the rest of the period while the Sun Devils hit a couple buckets to go into the locker room down by just nine.
The lead was down to eight, 43-35, when the orange-and-blue tornado hit.
"They were very physical and very aggressive," ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. "We weren't ready for it."
First came seven straight UF points. Then came 11 in a row, with Clayton hitting a 3, then Martin, Thomas Haugh and Sam Alexis finishing back-to-back-to-back run-outs (two of them nasty slams) after defensive stops. The game basically was over.
Backup junior forwardSam Alexis got into the dunking act.
"To do it at such a high level was impressive," Golden said of his team's both-ends execution. "In the second half we really did a great job of letting our defense lead us to transition. We were able to get out in spurts, get some run-outs, get some dunks and I thought our depth showed up tonight."
Everything did. When Clayton hit a 3 in transition off a steal, it gave him five for the game and made him only the second player in program history – joining Anthony Roberson in 2005 – to make at least five 3s in three consecutive games.
"We see what he can do every day," Richard said. "Now, he's just showing everybody else."
The same could be said about the Gators as a whole, as the look to remain in the rarefied air that now includes only seven unbeaten teams in Division I college basketball.
Their next opportunity comes Tuesday against basketball blue-blood North Carolina in the Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte, N.C.
Could another podium-seating debate await?
"We want to play disciplined defensively and play with a lot of freedom on offense," Golden said. "When much is given, much is required. Our guys have a good feel and understanding of that."
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
