Gators Dominate Wake Forest in Their 75-58 Victory

Will Richard (5) Gators drives on Wake Forest's Cameron Hildreth (UAA Photo by Maddie Washburn)

LAKE BUENA VISTA -- Walter Clayton Jr. already knew what kind of game this was going to be when he drove to the rim with 10:10 remaining in the first half and 18th-ranked Florida (7-0) trailing Wake Forest 20-11. Wake’s Efton Reid, every bit the 7-0, 250 pounds he’s listed, sent Clayton sprawling. Reid got a piece of the ball, but he got more of Clayton.

The zebra crew of Don Daily, Byron Jarrett and Bill Covington swallowed their whistles. Florida coach Todd Golden could have made a plea for temporary insanity in front of the Florida bench.

Clayton didn’t like the call, but understood this was the way the game was going to be officiated.

“That’s the first game we had this year the refs kind of let us play,” Clayton said. “So we kind of got over that in the beginning, understood that the refs was going to let us play on both sides, got used to that and kind of adjusted.”

Adjustment began shortly after that and once the Gators figured things out, Wake Forest was the one that had the problems. Florida outscored the Demon Deacons, 67-38, the rest of the way, finishing with an impressive 75-58 win in the ESPN Invitational at the Disney complex. With the win, the Gators will face unbeaten Wichita State (6-0), a 68-66 winner over Minnesota, at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

This win was all about defense and rebounding as the Gators turned in what Golden said was their best defensive effort of the year. The way the Gators played in the first 10 minutes, however, gave the impression that Wake Forest was going to run away with an easy win.

Things began to change in Florida’s favor during a media time out.

“I thought we were driving and hoping or expecting foul calls at the rim, as opposed to going through their bodies with great physicality,” Golden said. “We thought, we were just feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit in terms of our ability to play with physicality in the paint and at the rim, and again, we just reset ourselves. We recalibrated out of media and talked about it ... listen, things might not be going our way, but we can't let that impact the way we're competing.”

The Gators adjusted attitudes and not only matched Wake Forest’s physicality, but they became the clear aggressor. Florida outscored Wake Forest 21-7 in the final 9:36 of the half. What got the Gators going was a personal 8-0 run by Will Richard, who hit a free throw, a 3-pointer from the corner and a pair of 1-man fast breaks after he stole the ball, one of them ending in a thunderous dunk with 6:44 to go in the half that cut the Wake Forest lead to 20-18.

“We talked about him in the locker room as being the most valuable player today,” Golden said. “In big moments in the first half when things weren't going our way, I thought he exuded great leadership. And then across all 40 minutes, I thought he just played really, really well -- 14 points, six rebounds, no turnovers, a really clean floor game, a great defensive effort. I don't remember him getting scored on in one-on-one situations, and I was smiling with him in the locker room after the game. I'm like, ‘Man, you're turning into a really good player.’ It's really fun to watch.” 

With Richard leading the way, during the last 10 minutes of the first half, the Gators outrebounded Wake Forest 15-4 and came away with four steals, all of which were converted into points. In the final 10 minutes, Wake Forest hit only 2-10 of its shots from the field.

The Gators carried the first half momentum over, outscoring Wake Forest, 10-0 in the first three minutes starting with back-to-back threes by Clayton, who finished the game with 21 points, two rebounds, three assists and three steals. A steal and a 1-man fast break by Alijah Martin gave the Gators a 14-point lead at 42-28.

“We did what we needed to do to get a 4-point lead going into halftime and then for the first time all year, I thought we did a fantastic job coming out of the half,” Golden said. “Going on that 10-0 run that spread it a little bit, and gave us a little bit of a cushion to play with.”

To Wake Forest’s credit, the Demon Deacons wouldn’t go away. Some of that had to do with the Gators own inconsistencies shooting the ball. Florida shot only 39.7 percent overall (23-58) and 29.6 percent from the 3-point line (8-27), but the combination of rebounding and great defense made certain Wake Forest never got closer than six points.

Over the final five minutes of the game, the Gators stretched their lead from seven (60-53) to as many as 19 before finishing with a comfortable 17-point margin. Heading into the game, finishing strong was an emphasis.

“One of the issues we've had the past couple games, we've gotten out to these big leads, but we haven't played a complete game,” Golden said. “We've let ourselves off the hook defensively and on the glass in the second half. I thought we played a complete game today.”

The complete game showed up in the rebounding and defensive stats. The Gators outrebounded Wake Forest, 44-30, and stole the ball 10 times, outscoring the Deacons, 21-12 off turnovers. Wake Forest, which relies heavily on efficient scoring from the perimeter, was held to 21-56 shooting overall (37.5 percent) and only 3-20 (15 percent) from the 3-point line.  

That was the kind of effort Golden was looking for.

“Yeah, I thought our best defensive effort of the year,” Golden said. “I think we held them to 0.85 points per possession, something along those lines, which is an elite performance, especially against a team that's so well-coached with so many good players.”

Wake Forest managed only 58 points, the lowest any team has scored against Florida all season. Through seven games, the Gators are allowing opponents only 66.4 points per game. Since the first couple of games when opponents lived on the 3-point line, the Gators have gotten better at closing out on shooters. Opponents are now hitting just 30.2 percent on 3-pointers this season.

The emphasis on better defense hasn’t slowed down the offense. The Gators are averaging 86.3 per game, which is actually more than last year, but they’ve cut opponent scoring by 13.

“That [defense] was our Achilles heel last year,” Golden said. “We were a very good offensive team, but too often, we got in track meets and we didn't value the defensive side of the ball. I think this year's group has done a better job, as well as our staff, committing to being better defensively. I think we're coaching it harder. Our guys have been coachable in understanding what we expect on that end, and our depth plays a big role in that. Being able to play Tommy (Haugh), Zell (Denzell Aberdeen), Sam (Alexis), and Urby (Urban Klavzar) off the bench allows us to go get guys when they're tired and not blocking out or not making multiple efforts defensively. So for us to get where we wanna go, we gotta continue to improve on that end.”

The starting rotation on the perimeter came up big at both ends of the court. In addition to Clayton, Martin finished with 16 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Richard finished with 14 points, six rebounds, one assist and two steals.

The big man rotation of Chinyelu (9), Alex Condon (8) and Haugh (8) accounted for 25 of Florida’s 44-rebound effort.

SEC Basketball

Thursday's games

No. 18 FLORIDA (7-0) 75, Wake Forest (6-2) 58

Illinois (6-1) 90, No. 19 Arkansas (5-2) 77

No. 23 Ole Miss (6-0) 96, BYU (5-1) 85

No. 25 Mississippi State (6-0) 80, UNLV (4-2) 58

Oklahoma (6-0) 82, No. 24 Arizona (3-3) 77

Today's games

No. 18 FLORIDA (7-0) vs. Wichita State (6-0) at Lake Buena Vista

Georgia State (4-3) at No. 8 Kentucky (6-0)

No. 23 Ole Miss (6-0) vs. No. 13 Purdue (6-1) at San Diego

No. 25 Mississippi State (6-0) vs. Butler (5-1) at Tempe, AZ

Oklahoma (6-0) vs. Louisville (6-1) at Nassau, Bahamas

Tennessee Tech (4-3) at Vanderbilt (6-1)

Northwestern State (3-4) at LSU (5-1)

Delaware State (3-4) at Texas (5-1)