What happened
Tuscaloosa, ala. – in the second year Alex Condon returned to Florida’s departure training to mark a 27 -point career summit and take 10 rebounds, while the senior playmaker Walter Clayton Jr. Adding 22 points and eight assists, while the Gators classified in fifth row beat Alabama in seventh row on its home floor during their top-10 confrontation of the southeast conference at Coleman Coliseum with closed counters.
The UF, which won eight of the last nine, used shooting of 50% in the second half to transform an advance from a point at halftime into a 14-point cushion in six minutes to travel, then had to maintain one of the most deadly offenses in the country with timely baskets and free throws. The Crimson Tide managed to reduce the margin to five, then once to four with 20 seconds to play, but five different Gators combined to reach 12 of the 15 free throws on the last 1:23, helping to push visitors through the finish line after having passed the last 3:20 aimed at the field.
Condon was spectacular. In the first five of his third match since he missed four games in a row with an ankle injury, the Australian 6 feet 11 inch and 230 pounds made nine of the 16 shots, including two of the 3 of the 3 -point line, seven of his nine free throws and seized half of his 10 boards on the offensive side. Clayton struck eight of the 20 shots, including a pair of 3 half, to go with five rebounds and several spotted lobs in Condon for the Dunks.
Before the second year Thomas HAUGH came out of the bench to score 12 points, all in the second half (with a pair of 3) and the fifth year Alijah Martin had 10 points and five rebounds.
Bama, who returned three starters from his team from Final Four 2024, obtained 30 points from the playmaker Mark Sears.
The first half was a back-and-forth track competition, with UF increasing up to seven and bama by four, the Gators taking an advance of 41-40 in the locker room. In the second period, the TIDE worked on an advance of five points, at 52-47, but Clayton struck a 3 points and a main guard Will Richard Marked on a race slam to start a 13-3 race with eight rights in the back to increase by five. The tide has arrived at less than two, but has never led again, with a series of nine consecutive points pushing the Gators in their first two -digit advance in 10 minutes from the end.
From there, Florida closed, but not without a few pressure strokes.
UF pulled 48.6% for the match, but less than 30 from the line of 3 points (8 out of 27). The Gators, however, broke the tide on the glass, winning the battle of the 50-35 rebound in total, including 16-10 on the offensive side on the path of an advantage of 19-10 in the second chance. Bama, who pulled 47.2% for the match and went 9 for 25 of Deep (36%), arrived in the match with more than 7 average margin on the glass.
What it means
UF now has the best pairs or victories on the road throughout university basketball, full: at n ° 1 Auburn on February 8 and now at n ° 7 in Alabama, two teams were deceived as a seeded n ° 1 in the NCAA tournament. It is time for the Gators to take over this conversation – there are now 7-4 in the quadrant 1 games, according to the NCAA assessment tool – after having dropped out of series 2 (and double) during the dry tournament next week in Nashville. Their 26th regular season victory linked the 2006-07 team which won a second consecutive national championship for the second largest number in the history of the program.
Under the spotlight
“Condo” was a force, but Clayton managed the game and worked on negligence in the first half (8 reversals) and never allowed the crowd to really dictate.
Amazing statistics
For the first time in the history of the program, the Gators beat two top-10 opponents on the road (Auburn and Alabama). Last year, the UF defeated the Kentucky classified in the 10th in Lexington, so that Todd GoldenIn his third season, the first coach in Florida history to win three games against the best 10 teams on the road.
The next
The Florida (26-4, 13-4) is at home for the regular season final on Saturday evening against Ole Miss (20-9, 9-7), with the guard trio of Clayton, Richard and Martin Honoré in a tribute to the pre-match “senior evening”. The rebels, who lost three of the four, welcome the fourth Tennessee, Wednesday evening later Wednesday evening. Alabama (23-7, 12-5), meanwhile, will envelop its season on Saturday in Auburn Rival and in the front row.
Send an email to a main writer Chris Harry at Chrish@gators.ufl.edu
