Clayton, Samuel lead Gators to a dominating win over Pittsburgh
- Franz Beard
- Nov 23, 2023
- 4 min read
Yes, you can go home again. Sort of.
Walter Clayton Jr., who spent the first two years of his collegiate basketball career at Iona, and Tyreese Samuel, four years at Seton Hall, weren’t exactly in their old haunts Wednesday night, but the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was close enough for comfort. With Clayton having one of those shooter’s coma nights when it seemed everything he heaved up at the rim unconsciously found its way to the bottom of the net, and Samuel dominating the paint, Florida (4-1) handed previously unbeaten Pittsburgh (4-1) of the Atlantic Coast Conference its first loss of the season, 86-71, in the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Clayton lit up the Panthers for 28 points, hitting 6-8 of his 3-pointers while grabbing five rebounds to go with two assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Samuel hit 9-11 of his shots from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds along with three assists, three blocks shots and three steals. Help came in the form of freshman Alex Condon with 11 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot; 10 points, two rebounds, eight assists and a steal from Zyon Pullin; seven points, five rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot from freshman Thomas Haugh; and five points, two rebounds, six assists and two steals from Riley Kugel.
When 7-1 Micah Handlogten went down with an apparent ankle injury just 39 seconds into the game, it seemed a rather bad omen for Florida. Pitt led, 7-0, straight out of the gate and held a 19-10 lead that seemed to have the Gators playing on their heels with 12:14 to go in the half. That is about the time Clayton got his mojo working. His 3-pointer with 11:34 to go sparked an 8-0 run that got the Gators back into it.
It was a Clayton layup with 9:58 to go that tied the score for the first time since 0-0 at 20-20. Pitt hit just enough shots to stay in the lead but in the final 1:32 the Gators outscored the Panthers 8-0 the rest of the way. A 3-pointer by Clayton with 52 seconds to go tied the score at 34-34, then Pullin got a steal and the assist on a Clayton layup 13 seconds later for Florida’s first lead of the game. For good measure Haugh drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Gators a 39-34 halftime lead.
“Tommy (Haugh) hit that big three right before halftime, which I thought gave us a lot of momentum going the second half,” Florida coach Todd Golden said.
Pitt outscored the Gators 8-3 to start the second half, but that 42-41 lead with 17:01 to go in the game was the last time the Panthers held the lead. That was erased by a Clayton 3-ball with 16:29 to go and was followed up by a steal and a coast-to-coast fastbreak layup by Samuel with 16:02 to go.
Those two plays seemed to deflate the Panthers who were never closer than four. It was a combination of Florida’s hot second half shooting (16-30, 53.8 percent) and smothering defense that turned the game into a comfortable Florida win. In the second half, the Gators forced nine turnovers while holding the Panthers to 12-33 shooting overall (36.4 percent) and 5-17 from the 3-point line (29.4 percent).
“I thought we just wore them down a little bit,” Golden said. “I thought we did a really good job defensively all night, held them to 35 [percent] from the field, gave up too many 3-point attempts, but guarded the line pretty well and forced 14 turnovers. Obviously, that kind of spearheaded our run in the second half.”
The combination of Florida’s defensive pressure and quickness advantage turned the final 10 minutes into somewhat of a track meet. The Gators scored 17 fast break points in the second half and finished the game with a 24-2 advantage.
“They’re a good team and they did a good job of putting pressure on us, on the glass, which kind of limited our opportunities,” Golden said. “But once we started getting those clean rebounds in the second half we have multiple guys who can bring it and make decisions, and that allows us to really push and play with really good tempo. They just weren't getting back as well as the game went on, as they were early on. I thought we did a good job taking advantage of that."
The Gators outscored Pitt 44-26 in the paint and 28-11 off the bench. The Gators scored 19 points off Pittsburgh turnovers while the Panthers managed only seven.
Florida’s unselfishness had plenty to do with the outcome. The Gators had 24 assists on 31 made baskets.
“We had, what: 24 assists?” Clayton asked post game. “We were just finding each other tonight and glad the shots were falling.”
Golden was particularly pleased by the way the Gators responded while playing shorthanded. Handlogten never returned after his injury, so the Gators played a man down on their interior rotation against a Pittsburgh team that had the overall size advantage. Playing with only three interior guys, Samuel (1) and Condon (2) stayed out of foul trouble. Haugh picked up a couple of cheap fouls late in the game before fouling out.
“Obviously, we got off to a slow start, losing Micah in the first minute and a half, not something that was scripted for us,” Golden said. “But I was really proud of the way our guys stepped up.”
The Gators will have Thanksgiving Day off before returning to action Friday at 5:30 p.m. against 13th-ranked Baylor (5-0), which advanced to the championship with an 88-72 win over Oregon State (3-2).
SEC basketball
Wednesday’s scores: FLORIDA (4-1) 86, Pittsburgh (4-1) 71; No. 1 Kansas (5-1) 69; No. 7 Tennessee (4-2) 60; No. 20 Arkansas (4-1) 77, Stanford (3-2) 74, OT; Ole Miss (5-0) 77, Temple (3-2) 76; Missouri (4-2) 82, South Carolina State (2-4) 59
Today’s games: Penn State (4-0) vs. No. 12 Texas A&M (4-0) at Kissimmee, FL; No. 20 Arkansas (4-1) vs. Memphis (4-0) at Nassau, Bahamas; North Carolina State (3-0) vs. Vanderbilt (3-1) at Las Vegas
Friday’s games: FLORIDA (4-1) vs. No. 13 Baylor (5-0) at Brooklyn, NY; Nicholls (3-2) at No. 25 Mississippi State (5-0); Winthrop (4-2) at Georgia (2-3); Marshall (2-3) at No. 16 Kentucky (4-1); No. 17 Alabama (4-0) vs. Ohio State (3-1) at Destin, FL; North Florida (4-2) at LSU (3-2)
Hope the big guy is ok