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Gators move up (slightly) in basketball AP Top 25

On3 imageby: Keith Niebuhr11/11/24On3Keith
Walter Clayton
(Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports)

After two comfortable early season wins, the Florida Gators have moved up — albeit only one spot — in this week’s AP Top 25 basketball poll. They checked in at No. 20 in the new rankings, which were released Monday afternoon.

Florida, 2-0, has wins over South Florida (98-83) and Jacksonville (81-60). The Gators trailed the Bulls at the half before pulling away in the final 20 minutes; they took control midway through the first half against the Dolphins and never looked back.

The Florida Gators play host to Grambling (1-1) on Monday night at 7.

Kansas is ranked No. 1, followed in order by Alabama, UConn, Gonzaga and Auburn. Eight SEC teams are ranked this week.

Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. leads the Florida Gators in scoring at 19 points a game. Senior guard Will Richard and sophomore forward Alex Condon are next at 18 points a game each.

Clayton had 29 points against USF. He moved from shooting guard to point guard this season.

“I think he did great. It’s going to look a little different with him there but he scored 29 points and I think he only had one turnover or two turnovers,” Florida Gators coach Todd Golden said. “One turnover I think. And again, we scored 98 points and didn’t shoot it well. He was able to get us where we wanted and USF, their credit, they were a pretty athletic team. They were quick, athletic, good size on the back end of their defense. The way we finished from 2 was really impressive. I think we shot 74 percent or something from 2 but again I thought he managed it well. We want him to be really aggressive back there trying to score and make plays and he’s done that not only on Monday but in our scrimmages as well.”

Condon had a career-high 23 vs. Jacksonville.

“I thought he played really well offensively,” Golden said. “Just really aggressive, very efficient, didn’t even shoot it great from the line but still really effective on that end. Two assists, zero turnovers, a really clean game that way. Obviously, we want him to be better on the glass, and that was kind of a conversation, not just with him specifically, but with the whole team after. I thought we played a pretty good game, but we did not rebound well enough if we want to be the team that we’re capable of. For him specifically, yeah, I thought it was a great night, and he did it in only 24 minutes. Pretty good.”

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