RALEIGH, N.C. — Earlier this week, Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. was named a first-team All-American.
On Friday night, he reminded everyone why.
Clayton made four 3-pointers and scored 23 points as the Gators ran out to a huge lead and defeated Norfolk State 95-69, ensuring all four No. 1 seeds made it out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament unscathed.
Alijah Martin added 17 points for the Southeastern Conference champions, who built a 32-point lead in the first half en route to their seventh straight win. This one set up a potential second-round showdown with two-time defending national champion UConn, should the No. 8 seed Huskies get past ninth-seeded Oklahoma.
“He’s obviously playing at an incredibly high level right now,” Florida coach Todd Golden said of Clayton. “He is a threat to score any time he has the ball in his hands. ... He’ll continue to lead us, and we’ll go as far as he and the perimeter goes and as hard as our frontcourt plays the rest of the year.”
The win was the first in the NCAA Tournament for Golden, whose Gators lost 102-100 to 10th-seeded Colorado in the first round last year.
“Hopefully there will be many more to come,” Golden said.
Christian Ings scored 16 points and Jaylani Darden added 15 for 16th-seeded Norfolk State (24-11).
This one was over early as Clayton knocked down a 3 and was fouled for a four-point play, giving the Gators (31-4) a double-digit lead five minutes into the game that they would never relinquish. The advantage ballooned to 53-21 with four minutes left in the first half, even as Clayton took an occasional breather on the bench.
“Those first minutes everybody was locked in,” said Clayton, who finished 6 of 11 from the field and 7 of 8 from the foul line. “We were kind of doing what we were doing all year.”
Norfolk State showed some life by closing the first half on an 11-0 run sparked by Ings, but the Spartans never made it close.
“I think we got complacent,” Martin said. “We kept looking at the scoreboard, and when you do that and you see you’re up 20, you think like you could take a play off. We can’t do that at this level. We can’t give no team no hope.”
Takeaways
Norfolk State: Spartans coach Robert Jones was upset Thursday about his team being a 28 1/2-point underdog against the Gators, asking “are we that bad?” Norfolk State ended up outscoring Florida over the final 23 minutes to cover the spread. After the game, Jones smiled and said, “I told you we wasn't no 30-point underdog.”
Florida: The Gators made 18 of their first 30 shots to end any chances of an upset, dominating the smaller and less talented Spartans. Florida finished with 20 assists on 29 baskets.
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