Walter Clayton Jr., Alex Condon react to Florida's win vs. Merrimack

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. and freshman forward Alex Condon led the charge Tuesday night in the Gators’ 77-57 comeback win over Merrimack.

Clayton finished with 26 points, two shy of his season high, including 21 in the second half. He shot 10-for-15 from the field for the game, hitting 4 of 7 3-pointers.

Condon recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds. It marked the most rebounds by a Florida freshman since Al Horford’s 18 vs. Alabama (2/5/05),

Here’s everything Clayton Jr. and Condon said after the Gators’ victory.

Walter Clayton Jr.

On the slow start in the first half:

Clayton: “Just coming out with a lack of energy, just not prepared, and that’s on us as players. Just coming out with energy, that’s a big part of it.” 

On what Golden said before the 20-0 run:

Clayton: “He was just getting on us just because we was playing with no energy, you know, some of the things we talked about before the game to do. We had a great scouting report, we had a great plan, you know, it was just on us to execute. So basically, drilling that back into our heads.”

On if he was more animated than usual:

Clayton: “Nah, I think Coach Golden’s pretty animated, I’ve seen him animated, I don’t know if y’all do.”

On what was working for him in the second half:

Clayton: “I was just moving the ball better, not turning it over, getting into the middle of the zone, allowing our bigs to create plays for us, you know, for Rese and Condo, and obviously with them being on the offensive glass, they had great rebounding effort in the second half, so, yeah.”

On his confidence shooting the ball right now:

Clayton: “Pretty confident. Keeping that confidence will be a big thing for me, just shooting the open shots, and my teammates did a good job finding me, so.”

On if there was a shot or play that got him going:

Clayton: “Nah, not one specifically I remember, I just know everyone was hitting me while I was open and they were letting me shoot.” 

On correcting the lack of energy early:

Clayton: “Just talking about it, you know, I had a lot of passes at the beginning that were horrible. Completely on me. Kind of miscommunication. Some of those are just making the hard plays instead of making the simple ones. It was a lot of things, but make the simple play will probably be the biggest thing for us going against those zones.”

On dealing with Merrimack’s zone:

Clayton: “It is pretty annoying. Especially their zone, they were running like a different type of zone, it was like kind of like tandem and then wings were really high. So, it was some things that were open, some passes that were there, but they’re a very active team so it was very annoying.”

On feeling like nothing can miss during the 20-0 run:

Clayton: “For sure, I think it can feel like that for any team. I’ve been a big believer, my whole life of basketball was a game of runs, when other teams go on a run, you got to be able to stop it. But, you don’t ever stop it that other team is just going to keep riding hot.”

On the mindset for the next neutral site three games:

Clayton: “Come out with high energy, you know, prepare like we’ve been preparing and go out there and get it done. Just locking back in on the film and things like that and just being prepared.”

On the UF defense finding its groove to aid the scoring run:

Clayton: “I think as guards we’ve got to do a better job of helping our bigs rebound. I think they were getting a lot offensive rebounds because of us not cracking down and just coming down and helping them. They were doing a good job boxing out in the first half. So, I think that was a big part of it, then getting offensive rebounds in the first half.”

Alex Condon

On Merrimack’s zone defense:

Condon: “Yeah, credit to Merrimack, they did, they stuck by it the whole game, and as bigs, I know it can be a bit awkward than sitting in the lane a bit, you can’t dump it off, but, yeah, we bounced back in the second half. I think the key was rebounding, and just, like I said, in the second half.” 

On his 16-rebound performance:

Condon: “You know, Golden got on us, just that lack of effort, like I said. I know we’re better than a one-point deficit at the half, so, that’s where it comes from.”

On his first career double-double:

Condon: “I don’t really care about my stats, I just want to see us, you know, get our winning record back. You know, try and go without losing again in December. That’s our goal.”

On his transition to college basketball:

Condon: “Obviously, the physicality that some older guys give. So, just trying to match that is probably the biggest adjustment.”

On if not losing in December was a stated goal:

Condon: “That’s like player-oriented. I think one of the coaches brought that up and I think we’re sticking to that so that’s the goal, yeah.”