RALEIGH, N.C. — Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points and top-seeded Florida built a big early lead on the way to dismissing No. 16 Norfolk State with a 95-69 victory in the West Region first-round game Friday night.
Alijah Martin added 17 points, Thomas Haugh had 13 and Alex Condon 12 for the Gators, who pushed their winning streak to seven games.
Florida (31-4) meets eighth-seeded UConn, the two-time defending champion who beat ninth-seeded Oklahoma, in the second round on Sunday.
The Gators didn’t slow down after taking down Tennessee’s heavyweight lineup in the Southeastern Conference tournament last weekend. Florida reached the 50-point mark with more than four minutes to play in the opening half.
“We got a lot of stops and got out in transition, and that was easy baskets for us,” Martin said. “Just having fun, not getting nerves. It’s the reason you got here.”
Christian Ings posted 16 points, Jaylani Darden had 15 and reserve Chris Fields Jr. racked up 14 for Norfolk State (24-11), the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion. The Spartans shot 2-for-14 on 3-pointers.
Florida shot 48.3 percent overall from the floor and collected 21 offensive rebounds.
The Spartans had a spark late in the first half with an 11-0 run to excite a portion of the crowd, but they failed to score on their last two possessions. Florida led 53-32 at the break, with Clayton putting up 16 points.
“We didn’t start the game the way we wanted to,” Ings said.
Norfolk State had mounting foul trouble, with two players tagged with four fouls with more than 12 minutes remaining.
While the Gators’ efficiency dropped off in the second half, there were still some moments to remember — such as the 6-foot-11 Condon banking in a 3-pointer with slightly more than nine minutes to play.
Later, Florida’s Will Richard, who missed his first five shots (all 3-point attempts), hit a trey with just over three minutes left and raised his arms into the air. Richard and Martin finished the game tied for second on the team with 71 baskets from deep this season.
There wasn’t much drama earlier.
Clayton’s four-point play gave the Gators a 13-2 advantage less than five minutes into the game. About 90 seconds later, Haugh converted a three-point play off a fast break to make it 22-5.
Norfolk State’s Terrance Jones and Florida’s Rueben Chinyelu drew matching technical fouls following a tie-up with 11:40 left in the first half. Soon, the margin grew to 42-14, with the Spartans calling timeout.
Florida also eliminated Norfolk State in 2012, though that meeting came in the second round.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
