Gators Dominant Second Half Topples Sun Devils

The Florida Gators passes another major test in their neutral-site bout with Arizona State in Atlanta

Kyle Lander | Dec 14, 2024

The Gators dominate another quality opponent / Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

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Gainesville, Fla. – No. 9 Florida Gators men’s basketball team stayed unbeaten in Atlanta, Ga., taking down the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event 83-66 on Saturday.

This win moves them to 10-0 on the season and it is also their 10th straight double-digit win on the year.

Much of the talk should be centered around how the Gators played a near-perfect second half to bust this game open, but the performances from the veteran trio of Walter Clayton Jr, Alijah Martin and Will Richard should also be noted.

Clayton Jr. finished with 25 points (5-for-13 from 3), three assists and three steals. Martin ended with a double-double in this game, scoring 15 points and bringing down a team-high 11 rebounds. He almost had a triple-double as well with his team-high six assists. And lastly, Richard contributed 16 points and had six rebounds also.

Gators Trio Leads the Way

It was the guards who helped get the Gators started in this contest. The first of the three to get it going was Richard. Richard hit back-to-back 3’s early on in this one to help push his team in front 15-8 over the Sun Devils.

It wasn’t just him though, the Gators' whole offense looked balanced. Players were pushing the ball with some pace to generate quick, open looks and not let their opponent’s defense set up. Additionally, when they couldn’t run out in transition, the offense was creating open looks in their half-court sets. As a result of this, the Gators started 5-for-10 from the field overall and made three of their first five three-pointers.

Then, as time went on, the Gators started to get more of a stranglehold in this game. With 11:31 left in the first half, the Gators were up 22-10 with much of the plaudits going to Richard and his 10 points.

Unfortunately for Florida, Arizona State never really faded in this half. The largest the lead got to for the Gators was 13 with 5:31 left in the half. After a questionable call that went in favor of the orange and blue that sent Richard to the line, the Sun Devils head coach let his frustrations get the best of him and got a tech called on him. Both Richard and Clayton Jr. would hit all four free throws and this put the Gators in front 36-23.

However, from here the offense from Florida fell off. Over the final five-ish minutes, they would only score five total points and head into halftime with a 41-32 lead.

The best performers of the half were Walter Clayton Jr., Richard and Alijah Martin. Clayton Jr. and Richard had 12 each while Martin added eight himself. Combined, they accounted for 32 of the Gators' 41 first-half points.

Dunk party for the Gators During Second Half

Coming out of half, something clicked for the Gators. They came out firing on all cylinders and played a near complete half of basketball. The defense was making life difficult on one end and it led to points on the other.

Within the first four minutes of the second, the Gators went on an 8-3 run to help extend their lead to 15 points. From there, this game was never even close. They would go on another run, this time a 21-10 run, to bust open the game and give them a 71-45 lead with 9:57 remaining.

And during this run, the Gators started their spree of dunks. They had two during this run and the better of the two came from Martin on the fastbreak where he slammed it viciously with one hand.

The next two on this spree came about three-and-half minutes later and one of them was probably the highlight of the night. Richard pump-faked a Sun Devils’ defender and saw a wide-open lane that allowed him to put a different Sun Devil on a poster. Following this pair of dunks, the Gators found themselves in front 75-47.

But somehow, the physicality around the rim still persisted. With just under three minutes left, the Gators were out on another fastbreak and after some unselfish ball movement, Sam Alexis found himself on the receiving end of a lob that he finished off with ease.

Alexis’ dunk would be the last Gators points in this one as they would win 83-58 over the Sun Devils.