No. 5 Florida beats Mississippi to strengthen case for No. 1 seed

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points on senior night, Alex Condon notched his second straight double-double and No. 5 Florida beat Mississippi 90-71 in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday.

Fellow senior Alijah Martin chipped in 13 points for the Gators, who closed out the regular season by winning nine of 10 and strengthening their case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Florida (27-4, 14-4 Southeastern Conference) already clinched the No. 2 seed in next week’s league tourney.

Coach Todd Golden’s team put this one away with a 14-0 run early in the second half, turning a three-point game into a lopsided affair. Clayton, Condon and Martin did most of the scoring in the spurt.

Condon finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Clayton, Martin and Will Richard were honored before their home finale.

Sean Pedulla led the Rebels (21-10, 10-8) with 22 points.

Takeaways

Mississippi: Give coach Chris Beard credit for trying to muck up the game. Beard mixed in zone and press in hopes of affecting Florida’s attack. It worked for a while.

Florida: The Gators finished 15-1 at home this season and improved to 29-2 in the O’Connell Center over the last two years, creating one of the best home-court advantages in the SEC.

Key moment

Richard brought down the house when he was introduced last on senior day. Richard, a transfer from Belmont, was Golden’s first signee at Florida in 2022.

Key stat

Clayton extended his school-record streak of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 53. He hit back-to-back 3s in each half.

Up next

Mississippi will be the No. 8 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament and play the South Carolina-Arkansas winner Thursday. Florida has a double bye and will play Friday.

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