WATCH: Walter Clayton Jr. & Alijah Martin preview Elite Eight matchup
SAN FRANCISCO — The No. 1 seed Florida Gators are one win away from taking the West Region and punching their ticket to the Final Four. UF faces 3-seed Texas Tech in the Elite Eight on Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET.
The Red Raiders rank in the top 50 nationally in 3-point percentage (36.7%), but Florida is No. 7 in the country in 3-point percentage defense (29.3%).
“Texas Tech, they’re a great shooting team,” Gators guard Alijah Martin said on Friday. “They got some great bigs as well. But we can’t let them get comfortable, can’t let them get confident. We gotta do what we’ve been doing all year. Win in the margins and just play great Gator basketball.”
The Red Raiders advanced to the regional final with their 85-83 victory over Arkansas in the first overtime game of the NCAA Tournament. The 16-point rally marked the second-largest comeback in Sweet 16 history.
Texas Tech had five players log 37 minutes or more in the win, and Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. thinks that could be beneficial for the Gators.
“It don’t matter at the end of the day, but me personally, I think it’s a little bit of an advantage, especially going into an overtime game,” Clayton said. “It’s tough whenever you’re playing all those minutes and then turn around in such a short amount of time.”
It will be the fourth matchup all-time between the Gators and Red Raiders and the second in the NCAA Tournament. A 6-seeded UF team lost to 3-seed Texas Tech in a 2018 second-round matchup in Dallas.
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Florida is trying to advance to the Final Four for the sixth time in program history. What is the message from Martin, who reached the national semifinal with FAU in 2023, to his current teammates?
“Stay humble,” Martin said. “Treat it like another basketball game. Don’t get too amped up. Don’t get too rowdy. Don’t get so anxious. Don’t get beside yourself. Stay levelheaded. It’s a long game, so we’ll be ready for it.”
Below are video interviews with Clayton and Martin on Friday in San Francisco.
Walter Clayton Jr. interview
Alijah Martin interview
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