GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The first question was lobbed at Will Richard, asking about the tearful walk to the bench – his last time on the home floor as a Florida Gator – in the closing minutes of Saturday night’s 90-71 victory over Ole Miss. 

“I seen that too,” chimed in teammate Walter Clayton Jr., with a grin.

Richard wasn’t having it. 

“He’s talking about you!” Richard shot back. 

That’s a fact. The question was, indeed, directed at the wrong player initially, but everything got sorted out.  

“I didn’t shed no tears,” Clayton said. “But emotions were high, obviously.” 

So was the level of the play for the home team, especially in the second half and certainly by Clayton, the score-first point guard who went out in style on his “Senior Night” and took his two classmates and the rest of the fifth-ranked Gators with him. Clayton scored a game-high 23 points, hitting five 3-pointers, to go with five rebounds and eight assists in leading UF to its third straight win and ninth over the previous 10 games. Fifth-year guard Alijah Martin had 13 points, five rebounds and three steals, while Richard added 10 points in their rowdy senior send-off into the postseason. 

It was their night, but they gladly shared it. 

“[The seniors have] been pivotal to my development,” said sophomore forward Alex Condon, who just three days after a dominant 27-point, 10-rebound performance in the upset win at seventh-ranked Alabama, scored 17 points and cleared 15 boards for this second straight double-double and seventh of the season. “They played a large role last year, cussing me out [as a freshman] at the right times and not holding back. They’re awesome leaders and crucial to this team’s success. They’re great friends, too. I love these boys.”

There was a lot of love in the O’Dome Saturday, as the home crowd was treated to a very solid, across-the-board performance by the team that has given Gator Nation a season bordering on generational. UF shot 49.2 percent for the game, buried 14 from the 3-point line, won the rebounding battle, 48-36, defended at 33.3 percent and trailed in the game for only 47 seconds, though it took an early second-half strike to open things up.

“It’s exciting times,” Condon said. “I think we’re playing really good basketball.” 

For 2024-25 Gators (27-4, 14-4) now have the second-most regular-season wins in the program’s 118-year history (behind the ’13-14 squad), the most Southeastern Conference victories in eight years and will enter the postseason tied with No. 1 Auburn for the second-most wins among high-major conference teams, trailing only No. 2 Duke’s 28. 

“As we just talked about with our players in the locker room, I want them to be very proud of the effort and the success that we’ve had to this point,” UF coach Todd Golden said. “But we have a lot of work left to do and a lot of things left to still accomplish.”

The next phase, however, won’t start until Friday night, as Florida, by virtue of its second-place finish in the league, has a two-day bye into the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament at Nashville, Tenn. What happens there may determine where the Gators are seeded when the real “March Madness” convenes the following week. 

Then again, they may have already put themselves in the best position possible. 

“They should be a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament,” Mississippi coach Chris Beard said. 

The Gators shot and defended well against the Rebels (21-10, 10-8), likely a No. 5 or 6 NCAA team (and coming off a win over fourth-ranked Tennessee), throughout the game. UF made 50 percent in the first half, including seven 3s, while holding Ole Miss to just under 31 percent, but led only 38-31 because they kept turning the ball over: nine times in the first half.

Rebels guard Sean Pedulla (22 points) started the second half with a 3. Condon answered with a layup, but Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell hit another 3 to shave the UF lead to just three points at 40-37. 

But then came a 14-0 spree from the home team, with Clayton scoring the first five, followed by two free throws from Martin, a low-post bucket from Condon and another from Martin. Beard, with his team on a run of five consecutive misses, called a timeout to stop the bleeding, but the first basket out of the stoppage was a Richard 3-pointer to push the Gators in front by 17 at 54-37. 

When the Rebels got back within 14, Clayton bracketed a couple transition 3s around a lone Ole Miss 2-pointer. Clayton finished nine of 17 from the floor and with his fifth game of the season with at least five 3-pointers. Condon was 6-for-7 from the floor, including two of three from the 3-point line. He also had five offensive rebounds and three assists.

“We picked it up,” Golden said. “And, obviously, Walt had a stretch there where he was unguardable and really kind of took the top off the defense. Once we were able to get out to that run, we felt pretty good about it the rest of the way.” 

When the Gators got up by 22 with three minutes to go, the only thing left to deal with were the collective emotions of the three seniors: Richard, the Belmont transfer and first player to commit to Golden and his new staff out of the portal in 2022; Clayton, the Bartow (Fla.) High prep prodigy who went un-recruited by the big state schools, played two years at Iona and came home to play to potential All-America status; Martin, the Florida Atlantic defensive maven and Final Four participant who wanted to play his final year in the SEC. 

What a trio. What a season.

“Florida welcomed me with open arms and allowed me to be myself these last two years,” Clayton said.

Together they won more games than all but one team in Florida history and went 15-1 at home, their victories coming by an average margin of 23.5 points and along the way doing exactly what the UF coaches envisioned when making their recruiting pitches to each. 

“The history and the coaching staff’s desire to win,” Richard said when asked why he chose Florida three years ago. “I came here to win, too. Knowing all the great players who came before us, you want to get the program back to that national relevance. It’s been great — the journey — to get it back there.”

Now the best part, the hardest part (and very possibly an even more emotional part) is about to begin. 

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu