Gators Reach New Milestones After Win Over Norfolk State

Walter Clayton Jr. reached a new career milestone, while head coach Todd Golden won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in his head coaching career.

Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. surpassed 2000 career points while winning his first NCAA Tournament game in his career. / Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

RALEIGH, NC-- Entering Friday’s contest with Norfolk State, all but two players for the Florida Gators had zero NCAA Tournament wins. Even head coach Todd Golden had not advanced past the first round in his previous five seasons as a head coach.

However, that is no more after their comfortable win over the Spartans in the first round. 

Two of the most notable of this group to get their first wins are all-American senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. and Golden, who dropped the zero in the win column in his third NCAA Tournament appearance.

“Just excited, very happy, and hopefully this is the first of many over the next few years,” Golden said. “This team has been great for us all year and put us in a position where we could be a one seed and have a great game like this… I’m grateful for my players and my staff for that.” 

Florida’s head coach also etched himself as the eighth head coach since the 1979 tournament expansion to record his first win in the tournament coaching a one-seed.

Clayton Jr. stated after the game the importance of the win, but also the need to stack them at this point of the season. 

“We lose, we go home," Clayton Jr. said. "I think every win is important, and definitely glad we got this one out of the way so we can see who we're playing after tonight and focus on the next one.”

Florida Gators third-year head coach Todd Golden earned his first win in the NCAA Tournament in his head coaching career. / Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

This wasn’t the only milestone Clayton Jr. reached on Saturday, though. In addition to the win, he surpassed the 2,000-point mark in his career with his 23 points against Norfolk State. He is now one of five active four-year players with at least 2,000 career-points. 

“Blessed,” Clayton Jr. said about what it means to achieve this feat. 

However, his humility was put front and center as he showed his teammates a lot of love as well. 

“I think I’m blessed just to be on multiple teams with a bunch of guys that just love each other, a bunch of guys that just trust me to shoot,” Clayton Jr. said. 

He even continued to thank all of his teammates and coaches. 

“Honestly, I just thank all my teammates for instilling trust in me and even my coaches, without all of their trust, I wouldn’t be able to score any points,” he added. 

Additionally, with his performance in the Round of 64, Clayton Jr. passed former Gator Dorian Finney-Smith for the most points by a transfer with 1,235 points. 

Florida will need him to continue to add to that point total if they want to continue its chase for its first national championship since the 2006-07 season. The Gators will face No. 8 UConn on Sunday at 12:10 p.m with television coverage on CBS.

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