No. 6 Gators’ Clayton back to deal with No. 1 Auburn
GAINESVILLE, Fla.– Point guard Walter Clayton Jr. will go back to Florida’s starting lineup when the sixth-ranked Gators dip into No. 1 Auburn on Saturday.Coach Todd Golden stated Friday that Clayton has been cleared to play after missing out on a game with a sprained left ankle.
Florida leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. will return to action when the No. 6 Gators deal with the No. 1 Auburn Tigers on Saturday. Clayton missed out on one game with a sprained ankle. Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images
“Walt’s pretty near to 100%,” Golden said. “He’s right there. I believe you’ll see Walt at his finest [Saturday]”
Golden was somewhat less confident about fellow guard Alijah Martin, who sustained a hip pointer against Vanderbilt on Tuesday and remained practice Thursday.Editor’s Picks 2 Related”He’s a terrific competitor,”Golden said.” I anticipate having him, but we’ll see how he reacts to practice.”
Golden selected to offer Clayton additional rest provided Florida’s upcoming stretch, which includes roadway games at Auburn and then at No. 22 Mississippi State 3 days later.Clayton rolled
his ankle late in the very first half of an uneven loss at then-No. 8 Tennessee last Saturday. He returned to start the second half however insinuated front of the bench to give Golden and his colleagues another scare.Clayton completed with 10 points, no assists and 3 turnovers in 27 minutes. Clayton leads Florida in scoring, averaging 17.4 points. He also is tops on the team with 79 helps and ranks third with 28 steals. “He’s our leading scorer.
He’s a facilitator, too, for me,” forward Alex Condon said. “He’s great to have. All of us knew that he was sort of simply being cautious for the Vanderbilt game, I believe, and we have a huge one on Saturday. I think we all sort of understood that was what he was waiting on.”
The Gators (19-3, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) are 9 1/2-point underdogs versus Auburn (21-1, 9-0), which has actually won 14 in a row and is 10-0 at home this season.
“When you go on the road and you’re playing the No. 1 team in the country, there’s a little less expectation on you,” Golden stated. “It takes away a few of that pressure. It opens up the door to perhaps take some chances and to be more aggressive in some areas that you generally would not feel the confidence to do so.
“I think that’s a really reasonable way to evaluate it. We’ll enter there with, for absence of a much better term, absolutely nothing to lose, not hesitating to stop working and go provide it our best swing and see [what] we can get home with.”