Walter Clayton Jr., No. 5 Florida surge past Ole Miss

Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points and dished out eight assists Saturday night as No. 5 Florida pulled away in the second half for a 90-71 win over visiting Ole Miss in Gainesville.

Alex Condon dominated inside with 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Gators (27-4, 14-4 Southeastern Conference), who earned the No. 2 seed for next weekend's league tournament and potentially a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament regionals. Alijah Martin added 13 points and Will Richard contributed 10.

Sean Pedulla scored 22 points for the Rebels (21-10, 10-8), while Jaylen Murray added 12. But it wasn't enough as Ole Miss connected on just 33.3 percent (22 of 66) of its field-goal attempts while getting dominated on the glass 48-31, allowing 19 points on 15 offensive rebounds.

While the Rebels struggled to find the range, the Gators connected on 49.2 percent (31 of 63) of their field-goal attempts and drilled 14 of 38 3-point tries (36.8 percent). Florida led for just over 36 minutes and pushed the advantage to as high as 22 points in the second half.

Ahead by seven at halftime, the Gators took command for good with a 14-0 run early in the second half. Clayton started the run with a layup and a 3-pointer, and later fed Richard for the 3-pointer that ended the burst and made it 54-37 at the 15:45 mark. Ole Miss never got the game closer than 12 again.

The main storyline prior to tip-off was how each team would validate major wins in their mid-week assignment. Florida won Wednesday night at No. 7 Alabama for its second road win against a top-10 opponent this year, while the Rebels pulled off a last-second victory over No. 4 Tennessee.

Both teams got off to a slow start as the game was tied at 5 just over five minutes in. The Gators finally achieved a bit of footing on the offensive end as Clayton and Condon knocked down 3-pointers in less than a minute, enabling them to grab a 38-31 advantage at the break.

--Field Level Media