ESPN names Florida's Urban Klavzar a top international newcomer
Earlier this week, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Jonathan Givony released their top-10 international newcomers for the 2024-25 men’s basketball season.
Included at No. 8 is Florida Gators guard Urban Klavzar of Slovenia. The 6-foot-1 guard has played the last few years in Spain (Real Madrid, UCAM Murcia CB and CD Estela Cantabria) and competed for the Slovenian National Team at the U20 European Championship this year.
Last season, Klavzar appeared in 33 games for CD Estela Cantabria and started nine of them. He finished with averages of 8.9 points, 1.5 assists, 0.8 rebounds, 0.3 steals and 18.3 minutes, shooting 42.7% from 3-point land and 47.7% from the floor altogether.
Below, ESPN breaks down how Urban Klavzar fits into the Florida Gators’ plans for the upcoming season:
“The question all offseason for Florida has focused on finding a sidekick for Walter Clayton Jr., who ended 2023-24 as one of the elite scorers in college basketball. Zyon Pullin had filled that role, giving coach Todd Golden someone who could score but was equally effective as a playmaker and distributor. Alijah Martin will have the ball in his hands more, but Will Richard is a wing. He’s awaiting clearance from the NCAA, which could leave an opening for Klavzar, who is already making an impression with his scoring.” — Borzello
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Courting international talent is a priority for Todd Golden
During his introductory press conference at Florida, Golden said that recruiting internationally would be a recipe to the program’s long-term success. In addition to Klavzar, the Gators have reeled in several additional prospects from overseas as well, including Aleks Szymczyk, Kajus Kublickas and Alex Condon.
“It’s something that at the University of San Francisco was a really, really good piece for us, and we were able to build relationships all through Europe, Australia, and there’s a lot of talented kids over there, and transparently, not a lot of them have come to the SEC yet. You see them in different leagues across the country. Some on the West Coast. I think it’s an area that we can go and attack and bring some really talented kids over here,” Golden said.
“Just my time as a player, I played with a ton of international kids. Obviously, playing overseas over there, building a lot of great relationships. Even at Columbia we had international guys. Over the past 20 years I feel pretty fortunate to have been able to build a lot of relationships and one of the most important guys in regards to evaluating some of the young student athletes is University of Florida alum, Jonathan Givony, one of the NBA guys that does all the draft stuff for ESPN. There’s a lot of great ties that we have here that’s going to be an area that we can draw to.”
Stay tuned to Gators Online.
