Skip to main content
Florida

WATCH: Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard practice with 2025-26 Gators

On3 imageby: Zach Abolverdi09/06/25ZachAbolverdi
Florida-Gators-Alex-Condon-practice
The Florida Gators held an open practice in the O'Dome. (Photo by Zach Abolverdi/On3)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The 2025-26 Florida Gators men’s basketball squad held an open practice in the O’Dome on Saturday and two former players — Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard — competed against the current team. Clayton and Richard ran with the backups against some of Florida’s starters, including guards Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland.

The Gators played multiple games to 13 and mixed up the teams, with Thomas Haugh often on the same squad as Clayton and Richard. Clayton and Richard made several plays, including one game where the Golden State rookie scored 11 of the 13 points with three 3-pointers.

Haugh had several blocks on Saturday and one of the top plays with his tomahawk dunk off a steal by Richard (see below). Haugh and Alex Condon both connected from downtown and scored in the paint, while Rueben Chinyelu was a beast at center with several offensive rebounds and putbacks.

Lee and Fland also hit multiple 3-pointers in practice and shot the ball well while matched up with Clayton and Richard, respectively. Lee had two highlights during the last game with an alley-oop to Condon and then a great move against Clayton and finish at the rim.

Florida practice highlights

The defending national champions open their 2025-26 season on Nov. 3 against Arizona in Las Vegas. The Gators will also play Duke, UConn, Florida State, Miami and TCU in non-conference play.

“A lot of people talked about us not having it strong enough out of conference last year. That won’t be this year,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “When somebody calls and wants your team to come play on opening night against Arizona in a showcase game in Vegas, that’s a compliment. You gotta really evaluate that, so we want to do that. Same thing with the opportunity to play UConn. We’re not going to turn down an opportunity to play in Madison Square Garden on ESPN against one of the best programs in America. And we took it as a huge compliment that they put us against Duke in the SEC/ACC challenge.

“Obviously, Duke is the marquee program in the ACC right now. It’s not close. And for us to be picked to go play there, we take that as another huge compliment. So it’s a challenge, all three of those games are going to be incredibly difficult. We have other really challenging non-conference games as well. But there’s different ways to do it. Last year, we went 13-0 in non-conference. I’m not sure we’ll be able to do that this year. But we can still have a really, really successful non-conference because of the level of opponents that we have.”

Not a member of Gators Online?

CLICK HERE to join the Gators Online community for $1! It’s the top place for passionate Florida fans to find the best insight and news in the market. 

Boasting a talented collection of experienced journalists, we dig deep into recruiting and provide breaking news and analysis on UF sports.

You may also like