Part III: A journey to a national title; An inconsistent January

Will Richard's bank shot with 5 seconds left beat South Carolina (UAA Photo)

The Gators made a statement by blowing out Tennessee, but there were still inconsistencies that had to be dealt with. The defense rounded into shape in January but the offense had games in which it struggled. The Gators were good. Everybody knew that, but how good? Good enough to contend for a national championship? You could see the potential, but the talk nationwide was a Duke-Auburn matchup seemed imminent for the national championship.

January 11, 2025, Fayetteville, Arkansas

Bud Walton Arena is never an easy place to play, even when Arkansas is having a bad year. There is renewed enthusiasm about the Razorbacks thanks to John Calipari and the arena is electrical with the arrival of the Gators, fresh off a 30-point win over Tennessee.  Five minutes into the game the Gators are playing as if they are wearing cement sneakers. The joint is jumping because the Hogs are up 11-2. It takes the Gators until the midway point in the first half before they take their first lead and not until an Alijah Martin three with 6:39 to go that they take the lead for good (21-18).

Despite a poor shooting day, the Gators win, 71-63, thanks to dominant work on the backboards and exceptional defense. The Gators outrebound Arkansas 49-39 as Alex Condon rips down 10 boards to lead the way. Will Richard grabs eight rebounds while Rueben Chinyelu, Tommy Haugh and Sam Alexis grab seven each. Defensively, the Gators hold the Razorbacks to 18-60 shooting overall, a dismal 3-16 from the 3-point line.

No doubt Todd Golden is happy the Gators fly home to Gainesville with a win, but he knows the team had to play through a hangover from the Tennessee win.

“To win a game like this after a huge emotional game on Tuesday night, this had kind of a letdown game written all over it,” Golden said. “I thought we were a little fatigued, both mentally and physically, coming into this game and we didn’t get off to a great start. We didn’t have great energy early on but our guys showed why we have the potential of a special season.”

Special season. The Gators are 15-1, already one win away from matching Golden’s first year win total just a couple of seasons ago. In the immortal words of the late Tug McGraw, “You gotta believe!”

January 14, 2025, Gainesville

The Arkansas win catapaults the Gators to No. 5 nationally in the AP poll, No. 4 in the Coaches. The Gators are flying high, maybe too high because enthusiasm and focus are in short supply when Mizzou comes to the O-Dome. Missouri, which needs a statement win on its resume, comes out scorching hot for a 50-34 lead at the intermission. It’s only when the Gators are down 11 midway through the second half that they start playing like a ranked team.

“Just really disappointed by our lack of enthusiasm, energy, whatever you want to call it in the first half,” Golden says after the Gators stage a furious comeback only to fall, 83-82. “Obviously I thought we were pretty resilient in the second half, but, you know, building a 14-point hole at home or anywhere for all that matters is a really bad strategy when winning is the goal.”

In beating Tennessee and Arkansas, the Gators held those two teams to a combined 7-45 from the 3-point line. Missouri’s Caleb Grill went 6-10 and was the difference in the game offensively for the Tigers. Despite their defensive deficiencies and allowing Mizzou to be more physical, the Gators still should have won except for a 21-31 performance at the foul line. Additionally, the Gators turn the ball over 13 times which Mizzou converts into 18 points.

It is the little things that add up when you lose.

“It’s hard to be good,” Golden says.

January 18, 2025, Gainesville

In the aftermath of the loss to Missouri, Golden has come to Jesus with his team.

“We talked about it a lot over the last 48 hours that we just cannot allow it to happen where a team comes in here [the O-Dome] and plays harder than us,” Golden says.

Pity Texas. Against a Florida team determined to put the Missouri loss in the rearview, the Gators hold the Longhorns to 4-16 from the 3-point line and pound the ball inside relentlessly for an 84-60 win. Walter Clayton Jr. (22) and Alijah Martin (19) play well from start to finish, but this game is decided by what happens in the paint where the Gators hold a 44-20 advantage.

Alex Condon scores 11, grabs 12 rebounds, passes for three assists, blocks a shot and comes up with four steals.

“We talked before the game about winning the battle of the paint and winning the battle behind the 3-point line, and we have struggled in losses in our league in both those areas,” Golden said.

When the Gators are getting second chance points due to their offensive rebounding and defending the 3-point line, they can beat anyone in the country. Against Texas, Florida looks like a top five team at both ends of the court.

The Gators are 16-2 overall, 3-2 in SEC play, but already two games behind Auburn in the loss column.

January 22, 2025, Columbia, South Carolina

Five whole seconds. That’s how long the Gators led South Carolina and that wouldn’t have been possible without Alex Condon’s hip. Trailing the Gamecocks 69-68 with 17 seconds left the Gators ran a play for Will Richard who drove down the left side of the lane, straight at South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles, who had blocked three shots and altered at least that many. That’s when Condon put a hip into Murray-Boyles and it was just enough to give Richard room to bank a shot with his left hand off the glass and through the net.

Florida’s 70-69 win had all the makings of a monumental upset by the Gamecocks, who were winless in SEC play. The Gators trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half before settling for a 36-29 deficit at the intermission. The Gamecocks, who led by 14 with 12:46 to go, were up 13 (58-45) with 8:49 left in the game when Todd Golden started pressing full court, which resulted in eight South Carolina turnovers. The Gators outscored South Carolina 25-11 the rest of the way.

“We probably should have went to the full court press a little earlier, to be honest,” Golden said. “It’s not something that we do a lot and not something that I’m completely comfortable with all the time, but again, we did enough to find a way to win. The press was huge for us.”

The press and the perimeter game had to be good for the Gators because South Carolina’s defensive scheme really affected Florida’s inside game. Condon, Rueben Chinyelu, Tommy Haugh and Sam Alexis combined for nine points and 19 rebounds. On the perimeter, Richard led the way with 22 points, four rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals. Walter Clayton Jr. had 16 points, four rebounds, seven assists and a steal. Alijah Martin had 14 points, two rebounds, two assists, a blocked shot and three steals. Coming off the bench, Denzel Aberdeen scored nine and was very effective on the press.

Florida improved to 17-2 overall, 4-2 in conference play.

Walter Clayton Jr. drives for two against Georgia (UAA Photo)

January 25, 2025, Gainesville

Walter Clayton Jr. gets a ton of publicity for his offensive game, but against Georgia defense was his calling card. Clayton set the tone with five first half steals, part of a day when the Gators forced 18 turnovers that were converted into 29 points.

“We were on to their stuff,” Todd Golden said. “We forced a lot of turnovers which is something we haven’t done a lot of this year. We have the last two games but we knew with them, the way they play, they really want to attack the paint, attack the rim. We did a good job of keeping them out of there, forced them to make more skilled passes which we were able to deflect or intercept.”

The Gators forced 14 first half turnovers and had 20 deflections while building a 51-26 lead at the intermission.

Georgia came into the game led by freshman Asa Newell, a one-and-done type that many were predicting to go in the lottery. He finished with eight points on 4-14 shooting overall and was 0-5 from the 3-point line. The Gators made it a point of particular emphasis to put the clamps on Newell.

“He’s a fantastic talent but we have a lot of pride on our team and our frontcourt players have a lot of pride,” Golden said. “They know that he’s on draft boards and being discussed as a top prospect. Any time our guys go up against a player like that they accept it as a challenge and I thought we did a good job of neutralizing him tonight.”

Five Gators scored in double figures led by Clayton and Martin, each with 17. Clayton had three rebounds and five assists in addition to the five steals. Martin had two rebounds, three assists and four steals. Will Richard, who hit 4-8 on his 3-pointers, finished with 16 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal. Alex Condon finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists a blocked shot and a steal. Off the bench, Tommy Haugh had 13 points, 11 rebounds, one assist and one block.

The Gators went 5-2 in January, improving to 18-2, 5-2 in the SEC.

Rueben Chinyelu blocks out for a rebound at Tennessee (UAA Photo)

February 1, 2025, Knoxville

Paybacks are hell so they say. Ever since the Gators blew the doors off Tennessee by 30 points the Vols had circled February 1 on their calendars. With a sellout crowd of 21,678 waiting at Thompson-Boling Arena, Tennessee was intent on doing to Florida what the Gators had done to them in Gainesville.

“Disappointed” is how Todd Golden described Florida’s 64-44 loss to the Vols. The Gators came into the game ranked fifth nationally, but looked nothing like a ranked team.

“I was expecting a better effort from our group,” Golden said. “I thought they dictated the game from start to finish. Their physicality really bothered us all night, couldn’t seem to get catches where we wanted. We couldn’t seem to get downhill the way we normally do offensively.  

“We’ve been amazing offensively all year and we looked terrible today. I think a lot of that had to do with the way they guarded us.”

Florida’s defense wasn’t bad at all, just that Tennessee’s defense combined with Florida’s offensive difficulties turned this into a rock fight of a game. It was 24-21 at halftime. The Vols put the game away in the second half when they went on a 20-7 run. The Gators had no answers for Tennessee at either end of the court.

Making matters worse was a first half sprained ankle by Walter Clayton Jr. Clayton came back in the second half, but tweaked it again and sat. He finished with 10 points in 27 minutes, but was only 2-9 from the 3-point line.

The Gators finished 4-27 from the 3-point line and 13-53 overall. This was not what was expected of a team that was starting to look like one capable of a long run in the postseason.

With 10 Southeastern Conference games remaining in the regular season, the Gators stood at 18-3 overall, 5-3 in SEC play. So much happened in January. They showed what they can do defensively against Tennessee and showed their ability to come back at South Carolina, but they lost a game they shouldn’t have to Missouri and then had a very bad day at the office in losing to Tennessee. What could this team do if it put it all together and played consistently at both ends of the court for entire games?

That was the question on everybody’s mind as the midway portion of the SEC schedule approached.

Tomorrow: In Part IV the Gators endure a rash of injuries and emerge from February on a roll.