Not just good, but great; Gators close out regular season 27-4
- Franz Beard
- Mar 9, 2025
- 8 min read
There is this extra gear the Florida Gators have that no one else in the Southeastern Conference seems to have. When it kicks in, it might only take a couple of minutes for the Gators to put serious distance between them and opponents who can’t keep up. Sometimes it starts on the defensive end with a steal or a blocked shot. Saturday night at the O-Dome it began oddly with a pair of 3-pointers by the Ole Miss Rebels that narrowed a once 10-point margin down to 40-37.
Barely a minute into the second half, the 5th-ranked Gators (27-4, 14-4 SEC) responded with the kind of spurt that has turned the Gators into a team the last three opposing coaches say should be a lock for a No. 1 seed when the NCAA announces its tournament field a week from today. It began at the 18:48 mark with a driving layup by Walter Clayton Jr. A defensive stop, a rebound by Alex Condon with 18:22 left in the game and an outlet to Clayton turned into a 3-pointer at the other end of the floor. The Gators led by eight, 45-37.
Another stop, another rebound by Condon and an Ole Miss foul slowed down the Gators, who went into their half court mode. Clayton missed a three, Will Richard got the rebound and Alijah Martin drove to the rim where he was fouled. Two free throws later and the Gators led 47-37 with 17:32 left in the game. Barely a minute-and-a-half had ticked off the clock and the Gators were up by 10.
The Gators got a hand in the face of Jaylen Murray who missed a three that Rueben Chinyelu rebounded. Down at the other end of the floor, Clayton found Condon for a layup that put the Gators up by 12 with 17:08 to go. Another stop, a rebound by Clayton and 20 seconds later, Martin scored on a short jumper to make it 51-37 with 16:27 left.
The defense kicked in once again, forcing Ole Miss to brick another three that Chinyelu fought for and grabbed the rebound. Clayton missed a layup, grabbed his own rebound and was fouled. Media time out, after which Richard burned the Rebels with a 3-pointer that gave the Gators a 54-37 lead.
In all, 3:03 elapsed but it had to seem like an eternity for Ole Miss (21-10, 10-8 SEC). From reach out and touch close enough to believe in the possibility of an upset to the helpless feeling that there was absolutely nothing that could be done to derail the freight train that is a Florida team that has caught fire, it happened so quickly, but that is what the Gators are very capable of doing to opponents.
From that moment onward, it was simply a matter of the clock flatlining at 00:00. It took awhile because the zebra crew of Steven Anderson, Todd Austin and Mike Nance turned the final 10:35 into this endless parade to the foul line. After the Gators took a 68-48 lead on a Clayton layup, the Gators went 10-15 from the foul line while Ole Miss went 15-19. The frree throws only delayed the inevitable.
Free throws are the only thing that kept Ole Miss reasonably close, but they couldn’t disguise what Ole Miss coach Chris Beard saw up close and personal. Beard has a good team. Florida has one capable of cutting down the nets in San Antonio.
“In my opinion this should be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard after the Rebels were laid to waste by the Gators, 90-71, before a sellout crowd of 11,191 at the O-Dome. “They’re deserving of that.”
Florida is deserving. Since getting hosed by Tennessee in Knoxville way back on February 1, the Gators have won eight of their nine games, only one of which was close. In nearly every one of the wins, the Gators have found the gear that allows them to turn a close game into a blowout. Even in the only loss the Gators rallied from 26 down to take the lead over Georgia with 47 seconds to go.
Good teams can’t do that. Great teams can.
“Yeah, we just have a really good team,” Florida coach Todd Golden said.
Really good? He knows the Gators are better than that. He was doing his best to be modest.
Golden stopped short of calling the Gators great, even though he knows fully well that this is an elite team that is very capable of winning Florida’s first national championship since the back-to-back NCAA title years of 2006-07. The Gators have the best and most cohesive roster in the country whose interchangeable parts make them like an amoeba, able to change shape and dynamic with each substitution.
The Gators are the team nobody wants to play. They are 27-4 but they aren't satisfied.
“We have a lot of work left to do and a lot of things left to still accomplish,” Golden said.
Like an SEC Tournament title. The Gators haven’t done that since 2014, the last time a Florida team made the Final Four. Like the overall No. 1 seed. Should the Gators go 3-0 in Nashville they might elbow their way past Auburn and Duke for the top spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament is three weekends and a maximum six games. Go 6-0 and you’re hoisting the big trophy while confetti rains down and singling along while to the Luther Vandross recording of “One Shining Moment.” Florida is very capable of turning that dream into a reality.
Why the Gators could run the table has everything to do with roster construction. When everybody is healthy, Golden has 10 exceptionally good players at his disposal and that includes what Clayton has proclaimed is the best backcourt in the country. Clayton, Martin and Richard can all score, pass and defend. Off the bench backing them up are Denzell Aberdeen and Urban Klavzar. There are very few teams in the country those two wouldn’t start for.
Against Ole Miss, Golden was working with a 4-man rotation of bigs – Condon, Chinyelu, Tommy Haugh and Micah Handlogten. That rotation adds 6-9 Sam Alexis when the Gators play their first game in the SEC Tournament in Nashville Friday night. He’s missed a number of games with a sprained ankle, could have played against Ole Miss but Golden elected to rest him so he’s fresh for the 9-game gauntlet that awaits the Gators. Five guys 6-9 or taller, all exceptional defenders whether in the paint or out on the perimeter, and all excellent rebounders. Florida out rebounded Ole Miss 48-36 Saturday night. In the last three games, the Gators have grabbed 140 rebounds, 45 on the offensive end.
“They can dribble, pass and shoot,” Chris Beard said of the Florida roster. “They can playmake just enough. They have an NBA point guard in Clayton, and then the bigs just come in swarms. They do a great job of the four-man rotation, keeping guys fresh so they can rim-run and seal.”
Saturday at the O-Dome was Senior Night and the three seniors didn’t disappoint. Clayton finished with 23 points, five rebounds, eight assists and a blocked shot. Martin scored 13 to go with five rebounds, one assist, one blocked shot and three steals. Richard had 10 points and three rebounds.
The big guys were led by Condon, who had 17 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and a steal. Chinyelu had seven points, eight rebounds, an assist, a blocked shot and a steal. Tommy Haugh filled up the box score with seven points, five rebounds and six assists. Micah Handlogten contributed two points, four rebounds and a blocked shot.
There isn’t a team in the country with Florida’s depth to begin with, much less 10 productive players, all of whom have scored in double figures at least once this season. This is no fluke. This is a roster that Golden has been constructing ever since Will Richard became his first recruit when he took the job in 2022, just days after Mike White bolted for the Georgia job. Since then the Gators have become a solid blend of recruits and transfers from the portal. Golden has been able to blend them together seamlessly to the point that this Florida team has as its foundation extraordinary chemistry. They really don’t care who scores the points or who gets the headlines as long as it's the Florida Gators who get a win.
“We feel like the players we're bringing into the program are good enough to help us, and good enough to impact,” Golden said. “If they're older guys, younger guys, we need them to want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. We try to drill down on the basketball piece first, and then it's pretty simple after that.
“At this point, and where we have our program, we don't have to cut any corners when it comes to culture and the type of guys we bring in. We need great attitudes, great work ethics, but most importantly guys that want to be Florida Gators. When you check all three of those boxes, guys play above their expectations. On a micro level, I feel good across the board that everybody in our program right now feels that way. On a macro level, I think you can see that with the way we play for each other, and to me that’s why . we were a team that analytically was projected to be like a 30th team this year, top 30ish – I think we were 25th in the preseason poll or whatever – and then by the year we're considered one of the top two or three teams in America after the regular season.”
Top two or three for now. Four weekends from now it could be top one.
SEC BASKETBALL
Saturday’s scores
No. 5 FLORIDA (27-4, 14-4 SEC) 90, OLE MISS (21-10, 10-8 SEC) 71
No. 7 Alabama (24-7, 13-5 SEC) 93, No. 1 Auburn (27-4, 15-3 SEC) 91
No. 4 Tennessee (25-6, 12-6 SEC) 75, South Carolina (12-19, 2-16 SEC) 65
No. 19 Kentucky (21-10, 10-8 SEC) 91, No. 15 Missouri (21-10, 10-8 SEC) 83
No. 22 Texas A&M (22-9, 11-7 SEC) 66, LSU (14-17, 3-15 SEC) 52
Arkansas (19-12, 8-10 SEC) 93, No. 25 Mississippi State (20-11, 8-10 SEC) 92
Georgia (20-11, 8-10 SEC) 79, Vanderbilt (20-11, 8-10 SEC) 68
Oklahoma (19-12, 6-12 SEC) 76, Texas (17-14, 6-12 SEC) 72
SEC Tournament
Wednesday
1. 16 South Carolina (12-19, 2-16 SEC) vs. 9 Arkansas (19-12, 8-10 SEC)
2. 13 Texas (17-14, 6-12 SEC) vs. 12 Vanderbilt (20-11 SEC)
3. 15 LSU (14-17, 3-15 SEC) vs. 10 Mississippi State (20-11, 8-10 SEC)
4. 14 Oklahoma (19-12, 6-12 SEC) vs. 11 Georgia (20-11, 8-10 SEC)
Thursday
5. Winner game 1 vs. 8 Ole Miss (21-10, 10-8 SEC)
6. Winner game 2 vs. 5 Texas A&M (22-9, 11-7 SEC)
7. Winner game 3 vs. 7 Missouri (21-10, 10-8 SEC)
8. Winner game 4 vs. 6 Kentucky (21-10, 10-8 SEC)
Friday quarterfinals
9. Winner game 5 vs. 1 Auburn (27-4, 15-3 SEC)
10. Winner game 6 vs. 4 Tennessee (25-6, 12-6 SEC)
11. Winner game 7 vs. 2 FLORIDA (27-4, 14-4 SEC)
12. Winner game 8 vs. 3 Alabama (24-7, 13-5 SEC)
I have to hand it to Golden, he knows how to build a team