Tag: Walter Clayton Jr

Golden, Gators guard duo respond to Florida’s loss at South Carolina

Here’s what members of the team had to say about the win that got away on the road.

Florida basketball’s woes against zone defense continued on Saturday afternoon in Columbia where the South Carolina Gamecocks fought back from a double-digit deficit to prevail over the Gators, 82-76. Once again, [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag]’s team led for 3/4 of the game only to squander the lead in the final 10 minutes.

The Orange and Blue had four players finishing with double digits in the points column, led by [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]., who also added three rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. [autotag]Zyon Pullin[/autotag] also added 18 points along with seven assists and four rebounds; Tyrese Samuel (13) and Riley Kugel (10) were the other two in double digits.

Golden, Pullin and Clayton all spoke briefly with the media following the tough loss. Here is what they had to offer.

Trio of Gators discuss Vanderbilt home win on Saturday

Walter Clayton Jr., Tyrese Samuel and Will Richard spoke to the press following Saturday’s win.

The Vanderbilt Commodores paid a visit to the O’Connell Center on Saturday afternoon for a tangle with the Florida Gators as the Southeastern Conference schedule continues. Favored heavily coming into the game, Todd Golden’s team had little trouble handling their visitors, resulting in a 77-64 win.

[autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] paced the Orange and Blue with 21 points along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. (19) and [autotag]Tyrese Samuel[/autotag] (15) were the others to crack the double-digit barrier.

The trio met up with the press scrum after the game to give their respective takes on Saturday’s win. Take a look below at what they had to say.

Florida basketball talks Georgia Bulldogs win in postgame scrum

Here’s what three members of the team had to say about the win on Saturday at Georgia.

Florida basketball has really turned things around after a very rough start to the Southeastern Conference schedule and are now cruising along with an 18-7 overall record along with an 8-4 mark in SEC play. A win at the Georgia Bulldogs gave the Gators its third-straight win and seventh in their last eight tries.

It was not all smooth sailing for the Orange and Blue on Saturday afternoon, which saw its opponent explode out of the gates, ultimately taking a six-point lead into the halftime locker room. The visitors stepped up in the second half, however, and pulled off the six-point victory to win the season series against UGA.

Following the game, head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] along with [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. and [autotag]Thomas Haugh[/autotag] spoke with the media. Take a look below at what they had to offer.

Trio of top Gators discuss victory over LSU Tigers on Tuesday night

Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., Alex Condon and Tyrese Samuel spoke to the media after Tuesday night’s game.

The late-game woes continued for Florida basketball on Tuesday night, but fortunately, the Gators still prevailed with an 82-80 victory over the LSU Tigers inside the O’Connell Center. However, the team’s propensity for last-minute collapses has everyone at least a little bit concerned.

Even in the blowout over the Auburn Tigers, Todd Golden’s gang found a way to shave off half of its lead before the final horn. Had it not been for a game-closing disintegration against the Texas A&M Aggies, Florida would be riding a seven-game winning streak.

Nonetheless, results are results and the Gators are now 17-7 overall with a 7-4 mark in Southeastern Conference play. Three of the team’s top players — [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]., [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyrese Samuel[/autotag] — spoke with the media following the game; here is what they had to offer.

Florida’s 3 top scorers discuss win over Auburn on Saturday

Here’s what Florida’s trio of talented guards had to offer following the Gators’s big home win.

Todd Golden triumphed over his mentor Bruce Pearl on Saturday afternoon in Gainesville, with the Florida Gators cruising to an 81-65 victory over the highly-ranked Auburn Tigers. In a game where visitors were slightly favored, the home team made a statement inside the O’Connell Center.

The Orange and Blue went wire-to-wire in this one, running out to an early lead and keeping their feet on the gas until the final 10 minutes. [autotag]Riley Kugel[/autotag] had one of his finer efforts of the season, dropping 22 while [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. (20) and [autotag]Zyon Pullin[/autotag] (19) joined him with double digits.

The victory was a much-needed Quadrant 1 win, giving Todd Golden’s team their second this season in nine tries. Following the game, the three top scorers spoke with the media scrum; here is what they had to say.

Gators head coach, players talk to media after Tennessee loss

Here’s what three members of the Orange and Blue had to offer after Tuesday’s loss to Tennessee.

Wintery weather swept through the Eastern United States on Tuesday, causing the matchup between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville to be moved back two hours.

With the plummeting temperatures also came a frustrating loss for the Orange and Blue, which fell by a final score of 85-66 inside Thompson-Boling Arena. It was a game in which the Gators were overmatched both on paper and on the court, resulting in a 1-3 record so far in Southeastern Conference competition and an 11-6 record overall.

Following the defeat, head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] along with guards [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. and [autotag]Zyon Pullin[/autotag] spoke with the press. Take a look below at what they had to offer.

Todd Golden speaks to media following road loss to Ole Miss, players also chime in

Here’s what Florida basketball coach Todd Golden had to say about the road loss to the Ole Miss Rebels

The Gators basketball squad took a pretty deep tumble on Wednesday night, losing its second consecutive conference game to Ole Miss, 103-85.

Florida’s defense fell apart early in the matchup and allowed the Rebels to record its first triple-digit game of the season. The free throw trips are still haunting the Gators while turnovers have been a consistent .50-caliber bullet to the foot in most contests.

Wednesday night was no different and the momentum Florida built throughout December is slowly becoming irrelevant.

Gators head coach Todd Golden briefly addressed the media during the post-game press conference and touched on what caused the team’s struggles against the Rebels on Wednesday night.

Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. also shares his thoughts after a big night on the stat sheet, along with forward Alex Condon who completed a double-double with 15 rebounds.

Florida Men’s Basketball Previews: Guards

The college basketball season is almost ready to tipoff, so let’s take a look at all of the guards on Florida’s 2023-24 roster.

The 2023-24 men’s college basketball season starts on Monday, Nov. 6, for Florida against Loyola Maryland, and the roster looks a bit different than it did in Year 1 under Todd Golden.

The program lost several players to the pros and transfer portal, but Golden and his staff worked hard to secure the return of at least one player and brought in some talented replacements.

Riley Kugel and Will Richard are the two familiar names on the roster, but it’s the players behind them that will decide close games for the Gators this year.

Here’s a look at every guard on the 2023-24 Florida men’s basketball roster.

College basketball transfer portal rankings includes this new Gator

This men’s basketball transfer is among the top-30 in the current portal cycle.

Over 1,000 Division I players have entered the NCAA men’s basketball transfer portal, with weeks of activity remaining before next season’s rosters will be even close to finalized. The modern version of collegiate free agency afford players the opportunity to seek greener pastures when things do not work out for them at their current schools — which does not always work out as well as they hope.

While there is still plenty of time for things to change, CBS Sports’ David Cobb recently ranked the top 40 transfers in the current cycle — regardless if they remain at large or have signed on with a new school. The representative from the Florida Gators on this list at No. 30 is 6-foot-2-inch guard [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. who previously played for Rick Pitino’s Iona Gaels. Here is what Cobb has to offer on the newly-acquired Gator.

Clayton won MAAC Player of the Year while leading Iona in scoring and helping the Gaels to an NCAA Tournament appearance as a sophomore. The 6-2 guard hit 43.1% of his 3-pointers on 5.2 attempts per game and also averaged 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals. He has the makings of a starter for a Florida team that will be seeking traction in Year 2 under coach Todd Golden.

Clayton joins center Micah Handlogten — formerly of the Marshall Thundering Herd — along with forwards Tyrese Samuel (Seton Hall Pirates) and EJ Jarvis (Yale Bulldogs) in Todd Golden’s 2023 transfer portal class.

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Gators add fourth transfer to men’s basketball team

Welcome to the Swamp, Tyrese Samuel! The former Seton Hall big man is headed to the Swamp for fifth and final year of collegiate eligibility.

After adding a pair of transfer players to the roster earlier in the week, the Florida men’s basketball team added former Seton Hall forward to [autotag]Tyrese Samuel[/autotag] on Sunday.

Samuel is a fifth-year player that saw success in 2022-23 after breaking into the starting rotation as a senior. The 6-foot-10-inch, 235-pound big man averaged 11 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last season and should be a key piece of Florida’s frontcourt rotation in 2023-24.

The Gators have also added forward [autotag]EJ Jarvis[/autotag], center [autotag]Micah Handlogten[/autotag] and guard [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]., who should all compete for significant minutes if not starting spots on the team.

Samuel might play a similar role to [autotag]Jason Jitoboh[/autotag], providing some size off the bench.Samuel is a strong rebounder, espescially on the offensive glass and he’s also known to force a turnover or two in each game, be it a block or steal.

The recent departure of [autotag]Alex Fudge[/autotag] — who declared for the 2023 NBA draft on Monday — could also mean that Samuel plays a starting role on the team. Jarvis and returner [autotag]Alek Szymczyk[/autotag] are the only expreienced forward big enough to play a traditional four. Freshmen [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag] and [autotag]Thomas Haugh[/autotag] might aslo fit the bill.

Samuel chose Florida over Wake Forest after taking an official visit to the Swamp over the weekend. Associate head coach Carlin Hartman was already familiar with Samuel from his time recruiting for the Oklahoma Sooners, and the two rekindled the relationship during an in-home visit a week before the official trip, according to 247Sports.

The coaching connection helped Samuel land on Florida, and now he’s all in on restoring glory to the Gators name.

“I want to show people how I’m able to play pretty versatile and also I want to win games,” Samuel said. “Winning games is the main thing and making the tournament. Not just making the tournament but making a deep run and trying to get as far as possible.”

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