LAS VEGAS — Walter Clayton Jr. was special. He was the closer for Florida’s national championship team — and he had the perfect complements in Will Richard and Alijah Martin. Replacing that trio was priority No. 1 for head coach Todd Golden as soon as the season ended last April in San Antonio.
How did he do?
Well, Monday night’s season-opening loss to Arizona was just a snapshot in a marathon of a season. But this much we know: The Gators don’t have a grasp on who their closer will be. Sure, forwards Thomas Haugh (career-high 27 points) and Alex Condon (11 points and 8 boards) have the potential to be leading scorers and go-to players, but to close games the Gators will need an exceptional lead guard.
Golden has two likely candidates that he grabbed in the portal in 6-foot-3 sophomore Boogie Fland (Arkansas) and 6-foot-4 senior Xaivian Lee (Princeton). Fland, who had an injury-riddled freshman year at Arkansas, was cramping late in this game, so when the Gators needed an answer to Arizona it was Lee who was the facilitator with dump-down passes and clutch shots which kept Florida within a possession of Arizona.
But both guards missed open shots in late possessions that could have flipped the script on the 93-87 loss. Defensively, there were way too many attempts at the rim and an inability for the Gators to keep Arizona out of the paint.
A year ago, Florida had Clayton Jr., a player who would dominate his position and win games late. Monday night, Arizona had freshman Koa Peat, who dropped 30 in his debut, and senior Jaden Bradley (27 points) — exactly the types of players the Gators need.
Earlier Monday, Golden said the secret to finding the right guards in the portal was the ability of the staff “to identify really good players, guys who were unselfish.’’ Golden said thus far Lee and Fland have been easy to coach and that they fully grasp the opportunity ahead of them. That showed during the course of the game as they were able to play together, in concert, as if they had been playing together for years, not months.
Lee attributed that to the two of them having “fun” and “hooping” plenty in the offseason. “They’re both going to play a lot of minutes for us,’’ said Golden. “They’re both going to have the ball in their hands a lot. They’re great guys. They’re super unselfish. They’ve been really willing to assimilate into our culture and our program. I’ve just really enjoyed having them and I’m excited to see what they can do.’’
Fland finished with 9 points, 3 assists and 3 steals with zero turnovers. Lee made three three-pointers, but had to take 11 to do that and finished with 14 points, 5 assists and 2 turnovers. There were also positive contributions from Urban Klavzar (8 points) and CJ Ingram II (one three-pointer).
But it will come down to how productive Lee and Fland are during the course of the season if the Gators can repeat as SEC tournament champions, let alone a Final Four participant.
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Alex Condon’s decision to withdraw from the NBA Draft was the “cherry on top” of a very sweet spring for the Gators.
Lee said he wanted to be a part of a winning culture (sidebar: Princeton has a winning culture, too, by the way), and be at a place he felt he could succeed. But winning a consecutive title is an incredibly difficult feat. Sure, Florida did it in 2006 and 2007 and UConn accomplished it in 2023 and 2024. But each of those teams had more significant returnees than Florida does this season.
The need to create their own narrative isn’t lost on Fland and Lee. “We’re coming here with a fresh perspective,’’ Lee said. “Obviously, we’re trying to carry on that culture. We’re coming in with a hungry mindset. We’re not defending anything. We’re trying to go get it.’’
Added Fland, “We know it’s going to be harder this year, especially with the target on our back. We have to come out and be gritty and be ready to go.’’
And they were Monday night — before Peat took over.
The Gators will have plenty of opportunities to find their voice, go-to guard and finisher while traveling more than 13,000 miles during this non-conference schedule. Games at Duke and against UConn at Madison Square Garden (and a potential contest against Wisconsin in San Diego) will provide even more tests.
For now, the predictions of a second title are on hold. Give the Gators time, games and the opportunities ahead to see if they can find the magic they had a season ago.
