GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Four minutes into Wednesday night's ACC/SEC Challenge, visiting Virginia had rained in four 3-pointers and built a nine-point lead. It wasn't the largest deficit unbeaten Florida had faced this season. It was, however, the second-largest.
But something has become very apparent – frighteningly so for UF opponents – about this Gators team. They can score in bunches and do so in rapid-fire succession.
Ask Wake Forest, which was hit with 10 straight points out of intermission and was done in UF's first-round rout Thanksgiving Day in the ESPN Events Invitational Wichita State. Ask Wichita State about getting boat-raced for 27 consecutive points in the tournament championship game on Black Friday.
And now ask the Cavaliers.
What the 13th-ranked Gators did to flip the script on the Cavs wasn't nearly as crushing as the anvil that dropped on the Shockers last week, but it was every bit as effective. A run of 15 consecutive points, including back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers, shot the home team in front for good midway through the opening period and sent UF on its way to an 87-67 victory at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.
"One of the really good qualities of our team is our spurtability," said Florida coach Todd Golden, invoking the age-old term made famous by CBS analyst Clark Kellogg. "Our ability to go on big runs."
Clayton, fresh off his MVP performance at Disney last week, poured in 27 points, with 18 coming in the second half, by hitting 10 of 19 field-goal tries and five of 12 from long range, to go with four assists, two steals and just two turnovers over 34 minutes, as the Gators (9-0) remained perfect through nine games for only the third time in the program's 116-year history (and first time in 19 years).
Forward Alex Condon (21) hit seven of his eight shots from the floor, even guarded double-teamed, on his way to 19 points and eight rebounds on the win.
Sophomore forward Alex Condon was 7-for-8 from the floor on his way to 19 points and eight rebounds. Fifth-year guard Alijah Martin had 16 points and five rebounds, with junior guard Denzel Aberdeen hopping off the bench with 12 points on a near-perfect shooting night, all but two coming in a first half when the Gators need a lift.
When it was over, Florida had shot 51.7 percent from the floor, gone 10 of 25 from deep (40 percent) and forced 15 turnovers that converted to 20 points.
"It's defense to offense," said Clayton, who more than atoned for his two costly last-minute turnovers in a 73-70 loss to Virginia last season in Charlotte, N.C. "We want our offense to feed off our defense. That's been our emphasis this year. When teams go on runs against us, we kind of focus on the defensive end, 'cause we know the offense is going to come."
Oh, it came all right. UF's 87 points were the most scored against UVA (5-3), nationally renowned for defending, over the last 129 games, dating to a 98-75 loss to Gonzaga on Dec. 26, 2020. The Gators did it with two starters, Will Richard and Rueben Chinyelu, combining to go 1-for-9 from the floor and five rebounds.
This is a deep team that can get points a variety of ways ... and quickly.
"Florida creates offense away from their offense," Cavaliers coach Ron Sanchez said. "They create offense through second-chance shots and transition."
And that flew in the face of a UVA team that came into the game playing at the slowest pace in Division I college basketball. The Cavs wanted to grind out the Gators. They managed to shoot 46 percent for the game, with eight 3s, and held a 34-30 rebounding edge, including 13-11 on the offensive leading to a 22-10 advantage on second-chance points.
Yet, the game still ended in a wipeout; UF's ninth double-digit victory in as many games this season. It began with that 15-0 run in the first half for the lead, two Aberdeen 3s sandwiched around one by Richard helped the Gators move ahead by nine. The Cavs got the margin back to one early in the second half, but the Gators put it away with runs of 7-0, 18-5 and 9-2 in the second half. The latter featured consecutive baskets by Clayton, one of them a 3-pointer from the top of the key when he was fouled and sank the subsequent free throw to go up 72-52 with less than eight minutes remaining.
At that point, the Gators were 11-for-15 in the half (73 percent) and four of seven from the arc.
Denzel Aberdeen (11) went 4-for-5 from the floor and made both his 3s in a 12-point effort off the bench.
"Those runs we go on are really fun," said Condon, who made his lone 3-point attempt and is 4-for-4 from deep the last two games. "The O'Dome gets rocking. So much energy on the court. We feed off the bench. It's super-fun to be a part of. Everybody smells blood ... and it's go time."
Away they went, indeed.
Make that nine wins, not only all by double digits, but by an average margin of 21.5 points. By day's end, the Gators were one of only nine unbeaten teams remaining in college basketball; one of three in the Southeastern Conference (UF, Tennessee and Oklahoma), which annihilated the Atlantic Coast Conference in the so-called "Challenge" by a count of 14-2.
"Proud of our program, proud of our guys. To be 9-0 is hard to do," said Golden, whose team fell behind 18-9 out of the gate but righted itself with energy. "I thought the first five or six minutes we weren't playing as well as we needed to. I didn't think we guarded with enough urgency on the perimeter. I didn't think we rebounded well enough. It led to us having a nine-point deficit early on. From that point, to outscore them by 27 is really hard to do. We kicked it up a gear."
Their "spurtability" is a thing.
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
