Finale: No. 5 Florida 99, No. 7 Alabama 94

What happened

Tuscaloosa, ala. – Sophomore Forward Alex Condon Returned to the Florida starting line-up to achieve a career high of 27 points and achieve 10 rebounds while Senior Point Guard Walter Clayton Jr. It added 22 points and eight templates when the fifth Gator Alabama defeated on his home floor in her top 10 showdown in the Southeastern Conference with a sold-out Coleman Coliseum.

UF, which has won eight of the last nine, turned 50 percent in the second half to transform a one-point lead into a 14-point cushion within six minutes, and then had to hold one of the country's fatal crimes with some timely baskets and clutch litter. The Crimson Tide made it twice to reduce the lead over five, then 20 seconds 20 seconds, but five different gators scored twelve out of 15 free throws over the last 1:23, which contributed to sliding the visitors over the finale after the final 3:20.

Condon was spectacular. In the start of five in his third game, since he missed an ankle injury four times in a row, the 6-foot 11, 230-pound Australian made nine out of 16 shots, including two of four from the 3-point line, seven of his nine free throws and got half of his 10 boards at the offensive end. Clayton scored eight out of 20 shots, including a few 3s in the second half, with five rebounds and several praise for Dunks.

Sophomore Forward Thomas Hagh Came from the bank to score 12 points, all in the second half (with two 3s) and the fifth year on the year Alijah Martin Had 10 points and five rebounds.

Bama, who returned three starters from his 2024 Final Four team, received 30 points from Point Guard Mark Sears.

The first half was a back and forth track meeting, with UF rose by up to seven and Bama by four, with the Gator 41-40 led into the changing room. In the second half, the flood worked a lead of five points with 52-47, but Clayton met a 3-pointer and senior guard Will Richard Hits on a run-out slam to start a 13: 3 run with eight straight lines at the back to climb five. The flood came within two, but never led again, with a run of nine straight points that pressed the gators to their first two -digit lead in 10 minutes.

Florida closed from there, but not without pressure -packed shots.

What it means

Uf now has the best couple or the best road victories in the entire college basketball, full stop: in 1st place on February 8th and now at No. 7 Alabama, two teams that were trumpeted as No. 1 in the NCAA tournament. Time for the Gator to get back into this conversation, 7-4 are now in Quadrant 1 games, according to the NCAA valuation tool after you have won the number 2 seed (and the double bye) in the SEC tournament in Nashville next week. Their 26th win of the regular season connects the 2006/07 squad, which won a second national championship in a row for the second most common program history.

In the spotlight

“Condo” was a force, but Clayton managed the game and worked sloppy (8 sales) in the first half and never really let the crowd dictate.

Stagating statistics

For the first time in the program history, the Gators defeated two top 10 opponents on the street (Auburn and Alabama). Last year Uf defeated Kentucky in Lexington with 10th place, that does that Todd GoldenIn season, the first coach in Florida won history to win three games against top 10 teams on the street.

Next on

Florida (26-4, 13-4) is at home against Ole Miss (20-9, 9-7) on Saturday evening, with the waking trio of Clayton, Richard and Martin being honored in a “senior night” trio before the game. The rebels, who lost three of four, later organized Tennessee in fourth place on Wednesday evening. Alabama (23-7, 12-5) will wrap his season on Saturday with the competitor and best to wrestle from Auburn.

E -mail senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.rufl.edu