Florida basketball took down Jacksonville, 81-60, in its home opener Thursday night.
Despite winning by more than 20 points, the victory was much sloppier than Florida’s season-opening win against South Florida on Monday. The two-headed monster of [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] combined for just 20 points on 9-for-20 shooting after putting up 50-plus three days ago.
The good news is two other starters, [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag] and Alijah Martin, picked up the slack and carried the offense.
Jacksonville hung around a lot longer than it should have in this one, signaling there is still much work to do on defense for Todd Golden’s squad. Still, a win is a win, and the Gators are 2-0 heading into the weekend.
Career night for Condo
[autotag]Alex Condo[/autotag]n put up a career-high 23 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field, including a pair of three-pointers. He got to the line often but only made seven of his 12 attempts. Most big men are looking for 70% at the stripe, and Condon has some touch for a 6-foot-11-inch guy.
Even with the poor performance from the stripe, Condon was dominant on offense. Securing just one rebound on the evening is another red flag, but it’s still early in the season. Condon added two blocks and two assists to fill up his stat sheet, though.
It’s not the most complete performance from Condon we’ll see this year, but it’s very good to know he can play without fouling — he committed zero after getting into early foul trouble Monday — and score when others aren’t.
Off night for Clayton?
Speaking of guys who didn’t score as much as expected, Walter Clayton Jr. was unusually quiet from the field for a guy who is considered Florida’s best scorer. Calyton only took eight shots, five of which came from deep. After sinking an early three, Clayton went cold, leading to a nine-point finish.
He had a nice poster dunk in the game’s final minutes to make the highlight reel, but Florida will be at its best when he’s scoring. With that said, it’s possible Clayton’s focus tonight was on distributing the ball. He finished the night with seven assists and just one turnover.
It wasn’t really an off night if you look at the big picture, but it’s not the style of play we’re used to seeing from Clayton.
Sam Alexis off the bench
After just two games with Florida, it appears that [autotag]Sam Alexis[/autotag] is an X-factor off the bench for the Gators. He has a bad habit of taking ill-advised deep shots, but his post-work and rebounding prowess more than make up for it.
It’s hard to see him moving into the starting lineup with Condon as the star in the frontcourt and Rueben Chinyelu playing that big-man role, but the latter has only played 35 minutes over two games. That leaves plenty of time for Alexis and Thomas Haugh to rotate in and out with him.
Alexis finished the night with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting (0-2 from deep) and seven rebounds (two offensive boards). He also rejected four shots over just 15 minutes on the court. That kind of efficiency on defense and the boards is going to get him more time in the rotation.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.