SETUP

Fifth-ranked Florida and Ole Miss will wrap up their regular seasons, each aiming to carry momentum into the Southeastern Conference and NCAA tournaments. The Gators will honor their trio of standout guards—Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin—during a pregame "Senior Night" ceremony. Florida has won eight of its last nine games, including a 99-94 road victory over seventh-ranked Alabama on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Rebels have claimed back-to-back wins, most recently defeating No. 4 Tennessee, 78-76, in a game that sparked a court-storming in Oxford.

Florida has already secured second place in the SEC standings and the No. 2 seed for next week’s tournament in Nashville, but the team is still aiming to strengthen its case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Mississippi, riding a two-game win streak, is tied with Missouri and Texas A&M for fifth place in the league. The Rebels have locked up a first-round SEC bye and appear likely to receive a 6- or 7-seed in the NCAA bracket.

Series History

Florida leads the all-time series 70-49, though the matchup has been competitive over the past seven years, with the Gators winning five of the last nine meetings. Their most recent clash came on Jan. 10, 2024, in Oxford, where Ole Miss dominated 103-85. The Rebels were up by just four at halftime but erupted for 59 second-half points, shooting an incredible 75 percent. Forward Jaemyn Brakefield scored 28 points and Matthew Murrell added 23, while Ole Miss capitalized on 24 points off turnovers and 21 points in transition, compared to just five for Florida. The Gators shot 41 percent for the game and had 15 shots blocked, including nine by 7-foot-5 center Jamarion Sharp.

Extra Notes

Florida has enjoyed a seven-game winning streak against Ole Miss at the O’Connell Center, a run that dates back to the 2016 season.

UF senior guard Will Richard (5)

Florida secured one of the season’s top road victories, even if the metrics took a slight hit on the defensive efficiency front. UF dropped from eighth to 10th in defensive efficiency, despite limiting Alabama to 53.2 percent shooting on 2-pointers (the Crimson Tide had been averaging nearly 60 percent) and allowing just nine 3-pointers (Bama was averaging close to 11 per game). No matter—this was a major win. With the Gators now ranked fourth in offensive efficiency and 10th in defense, Florida joins Duke (2nd and 4th) and Houston (10th and 3rd) as one of only three teams nationally ranked in the top 10 on both ends.

UF’s offense continues to shine, while its defense is also performing well, ranking 16th nationally in 2-point percentage defense (45.7) and 8th in 3-point percentage defense (29.5), both better than their corresponding offensive percentages (39th at 55.6 and 101st at 35.2). The Gators dominate the boards, particularly in SEC play, where they rank fourth in defensive rebounding (29.7 percent) and second offensively (35.4 percent). Against Alabama, UF outrebounded the Crimson Tide 50-35 overall, including a 16-10 advantage on the offensive glass, and claimed a 19-10 edge in second-chance points. They also outpaced the nation’s fastest team with a 22-10 advantage in fast-break scoring and turned just two second-half turnovers while converting 12 of 15 free throws in the final 1:29 to preserve a 14-point comeback lead.

The ninth sellout of the season should arrive early to catch the pregame Senior Night tributes for Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin,—arguably the nation’s top guard trio. Clayton, breaking an 11-game streak without hitting 20 points, scored 22 with five rebounds and eight assists in Wednesday’s win. Richard, who tallied 55 points in the prior two games, had eight points, four boards, and went 0-for-5 from three, marking his first stretch without a 3-pointer in 53 games, yet remained a steady two-way presence during a standout season. Martin, a Florida Atlantic transfer, contributed 10 points and five rebounds and has been a driving force behind UF’s rise as one of the country’s top defensive teams. Each member of the trio is shooting roughly 36 percent from three, with at least 61 made threes this season—led by Clayton’s 79, maintaining at least one in every game. Combined, they have scored 5,328 career points, including 2,680 as Gators.

Forward Alex Condon appears ready to return from an ankle sprain that sidelined him for four games. In his first start since Feb. 11, Condon scored a career-high 27 points on nine of 16 shooting, hit two threes, grabbed 10 rebounds (half offensive), blocked two shots, and posted a plus-12 in his finest performance as a Gator. Center Rueben Chinyelu added a game-high 11 rebounds in just 20 minutes, four on offense. Sophomore forward Thomas Haugh (9.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg) came off the bench for the first time since Condon’s injury, finishing with 12 points and three rebounds in 19 minutes. Backup 7-foot-1 center Micah Handlogten contributed two points, four rebounds, and a steal in 10 minutes, while reserve guards Denzel Aberdeen (8.2 ppg) and Urban Klavzar (3.7 ppg) added seven and two points, respectively.

Aberdeen sank a key second-half three, his first in four games, and two clutch free throws with 12.4 seconds left to seal the win. Walk-on guard Bennett Andersen, recently named to the SEC Community Service Team, will also be honored during the Senior Night ceremony.

Ole Miss guard Sean Padulla (3)

Under Chris Beard, Ole Miss has gone 41-21 over the past two seasons. Beard, an accomplished coach with a proven record of success, has also faced significant off-court scrutiny. He led Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA championship game, falling to Virginia, before moving to Texas, where he was dismissed in December 2022 following a domestic violence incident. Ole Miss hired him that offseason, and he guided the Rebels to a 20-12 record last year. This season, they have positioned themselves comfortably in the NCAA field, picking up quality wins on neutral floors against Brigham Young, at Louisville and Alabama, and at home versus Kentucky and Tennessee. Non-conference losses came against Purdue (neutral court) and at Memphis.

The Rebels endured two separate three-game SEC losing streaks, with the most recent defeat a 30-point loss at Auburn on Feb. 26, but they have since rebounded with consecutive narrow home victories over Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Offensively, Ole Miss ranks first nationally in turnover protection, with only 12.6 percent of possessions ending in turnovers. Their shooting efficiency is middle-of-the-pack, both in the SEC and nationally: 51.5 percent on 2-pointers (162nd) and 34.7 percent from three (128th). Their low turnover rate is crucial because the team struggles to generate extra opportunities on offensive rebounds; with a mostly four-guard lineup, they are last in the conference for offensive rebounding (25.3 percent) and 313th nationally.



Defensively, the Rebels are among the top 30 teams in the nation. They are somewhat limited on the boards but make up for it by being aggressive, disrupting opponents, and forcing turnovers on 12.3 percent of possessions.

Point guard Sean Padulla averaged 12.1 points and 3.2 assists over his three seasons at Virginia Tech, where he was among the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top three-point shooters at 35.5 percent. This season, Padulla is shooting 39.9 percent from long range with a team-high 73 made threes and has recorded at least four 3-pointers in seven games, including five against Oklahoma last week on his way to 26 points.

Senior guard Jaylen Murray is in his second season with Ole Miss after transferring from Saint Peter’s, where he was part of the 15-seed team that upset Kentucky in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament and advanced to the regional semifinals. Though undersized and limited inside, Murray is shooting 39 percent from three and has the ability to penetrate and find open teammates.

Dre Davis, a fifth-year graduate transfer, spent two seasons at Seton Hall and two at Louisville prior. He scored 20 points in the win over Louisville back in November.

Guard Davon Barnes (5.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg) and forward Mikeal Brown-Jones (4.1 ppg) provide additional depth for the Rebels off the bench.

*5 — Division I players this century to record at least 27 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks in a top-10 road victory, a feat Alex Condon accomplished at Alabama. The other four are Johnny Davis (Wisconsin), Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State), Erik Mika (BYU), and Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina). Three of those four went on to be first-round NBA draft picks.

*5 — Top-25 wins for the Gators this season, marking the second-most in the program over the past decade, behind the six wins of 2017-18. These victories came against No. 1 Tennessee, at No. 1 Auburn, at No. 22 Mississippi State, No. 12 Texas A&M, and at No. 7 Alabama.

*66 — Florida’s total wins over the past three seasons under Todd Golden, the most all-time for a Florida coach in his first 100 games. Golden surpassed, in order, Mike White (65), Tommy Bartlett and Sam McAllister (62), and Billy Donovan (58).

*1974 — The last year the Gators won back-to-back games against AP top-12 teams, as this team did by defeating No. 12 Texas A&M and No. 7 Alabama. That 1974 squad beat No. 7 Alabama and No. 5 Vanderbilt in consecutive matchups.



*2015 — The last time Ole Miss defeated Florida at the O’Connell Center, on Feb. 12. The Rebels’ guard Stefan Moody sank a logo 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining for a 62-61 win. Florida had one final chance, but Jake Kurtz’s length-of-court pass to Dorian Finney-Smith was knocked away as time expired. That loss came three weeks after Mississippi’s Jarvis Summers hit two free throws with 3.5 seconds left for a 72-71 victory at Oxford and preceded UF’s first losing season in 17 years, which also marked Billy Donovan’s final game before leaving for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

Bottom Line: What an incredible year. Look for the Rowdy Reptiles and adoring O'Dome crowd to give these guys the postseason send-off they deserve.

Email Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu