Clayton’s Curry-like flurry assists Gators leave

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• =”40″/ > Kyle BonaguraMar 29, 2025, 08:58 PM ET Close Covers college football.Joined ESPN in 2014.
• Gone To Washington State University.SAN FRANCISCO– With Florida on the edge of removal from the NCAA

males’s basketball tournament, All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr. responded to with among the terrific clutch performances in school history Saturday to assist the Gators to the Final Four with an 84-79 win versus third-seeded Texas Tech.Clayton scored 13 of his game-high 30 points over the game’s last 5:24, helping the top-seeded Gators eliminate

a 10-point deficit at Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors. He was later named the West Area’s The majority of Exceptional Player.Clayton’s style of play has drawn comparisons to Warriors protect Stephen Curry in the past, and while neither he, nor Florida coach Todd Golden, wanted to contribute to that conversation, that Clayton’s heroics occurred in San Francisco made them hard to disregard.”[ Comparing him to Curry] is sort of a lot to place on a boy,”Golden stated.”However I ‘d say the something where Walt 100 percent is similar to Steph is their shot-making and their capability to get it off whenever they desire. “Similar to the Warriors want Steph to be able to find a method to get open and get those shots in those minutes, we want Walt taking the shots for us down the stretch. There’s a reason he was an AP first-team All-American. He is, in my simple viewpoint, the very best guard in America. “Editor’s Picks 1 Related With 3:14 left, it appeared like Florida would be the very first No. 1 seed to be removed from the competition. Texas Tech star JT Toppin scored inside to

put the Red

Raiders up 9, and the Gators had actually been unable to score back-to-back containers the entire second half.But Thomas Haugh responded to with back-to-back 3-pointers for the Gators to cut the deficit to 75-72 with 2:27 left before Clayton took the baton. He also hit back-to-back threes to provide Florida its very first lead

since early in the half and iced the game in its closing minutes with a pair of totally free throws.The whole sequence was surreal for Clayton, as he got rid of some early-game shooting woes to come through when it mattered.”Absolutely nothing was going through my mind. My mind was blank,”he said.”Thankful those shots went in, but we were locked in till the last buzzer sounded.”The Gators(34-4) have won 10 straight games and will play the winner of Sunday’s Auburn-Michigan State matchup

on Saturday in San Antonio. Florida won its only regular-season matchup with SEC competing Auburn 90-81 on Feb. 8. As much as Clayton’s big 3-pointers mattered for the Gators ‘resurgence, it was his capability to get to the line that Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland stated was the difference-maker. Clayton was 13 of 14 from the charity stripe. Florida was 25 of 27 as a team while the Red Raiders

made simply 7 of 13 free tosses. “That was the part that, honestly, I was dissatisfied,” McCasland said.” It was simply that he got to release the line a lot and yeah, he’s a difficult cover. He simply is so difficult.” He hurts you in a lot of different methods. He’s dynamic at shooting, however he’s crafting his change of pace and they

do such a good job of moving the ball. We chose we were going to cope with those forwards making 3s which’s what made it difficult. When you’re keying on him and then he’s beginning to get fouled and after that other guys need to step up and they did. “Haugh’s 2 key late threes were part of his best total efficiency as a Gator. The sophomore finished with 20 points off the bench and was a huge trigger in the first half.”The thing about [Haugh]– and it goes for other guys on the roster also– he’s just a winning player,”Golden stated.”He simply discovers methods to impact

the game and to assist the team win one of the most. Among, if not the most unselfish guys out there simply being comfy on the bench when he can be starting practically anywhere America.

“San Francisco has actually become a not likely city of significance for the Gators. The school plucked Golden from the University of San Francisco three years back, and this week returned to punch its ticket to the Final 4. The last time the Gators went this far in March was in 2014, the second-to-last season under longtime coach Billy Donovan.For Texas Tech(28-9),

the game was somewhat of a role turnaround compared to the Sweet 16. In that win against Arkansas, the Red Raiders eliminated a 16-point second-half deficit to advance, thanks to clutch shooting down the stretch.This time, in spite of big nights from Darrion Williams (23 points )and Toppin(20 points), it wasn’t suggested to be.