SAN ANTONIO – When it was over Saturday night and Walter Clayton Jr. had pushed his name ever higher up the NCAA tournament legend ladder, his Florida teammates were asked to describe him in one word.
Will Richard went first on the interview room podium. “I’ll just say special, to be honest. He’s special.”
Thomas Haugh next. “Special.”
Then Alijah Martin. “Special.”
Get the idea?
Sitting in the Gators locker room, Rueben Chinyelu came up with his own. “I keep saying he’s different. He’s built different.”
Down the way in another locker, a view from Denzel Aberdeen: “Walter Clayton Jr.’s a winner.”
And another from Alex Condon, “I don’t think a lot of teams have a player like that.”
This was a glimpse into what SEC life had been all winter. Frantic, brutal, no time to relax or even breathe. And sooner or later, someone for either Florida or Auburn would have to step forward and seize the moment.
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Nothing else would have done Saturday night justice at the Final Four. There had to be 10 ties and 15 lead changes and ups and downs and swaying momentum and flying bodies, to do justice to the SEC meat grinder that produced these two teams. Physical to the max. Spectacular plays. Martin had a dunk for the ages. Someone in the locker room after the game asked him if that was the best dunk of his life. “Which one?” he asked.
Yeah, a real trial by fire. “We’re used to this,” Aberdeen said. A game teetering on the edge, until someone grabbed it for good. Every Florida player and coach in blue, every fan up in the stands doing the Gator chomp, knew who that would be.
Might it have been a look on Clayton’s face, that he was about to turn into Steph Curry?
“He doesn’t get a look because his face always stays the same,” Aberdeen said. “But you know when he touches the ball something good’s got to happen.”
Walter Clayton Jr., the new legend of March — and now April — would not let his team lose. Not if it took 34 points, which it did. Florida was down nine early in the second half. Know what that means? Clayton Time. The Gators put up 41 points in the second half to blow past the Tigers 79-73. He had 20 of them.
Clayton’s reaction? More or less an aw, shucks.
“Me personally, I just let the game come to me. I know I got a bunch of other guys around me who are threats also. If you try to double me, Tommy (Haugh) hit that 3 in the first half, loosened up their defense a little bit, they went away from me. Just read and reacting to the defense. I know I got weapons around me.”
He is building a storybook NCAA tournament one dagger at a time. The 23 points to knock out Connecticut. The 30 points to push the Gators past Texas Tech. And then Saturday, Clayton on the drive, Clayton on the outside, Clayton everywhere, taking over the Final Four stage. Or as he said of the Alamodome court. “it’s in a big ol’ football stadium, propped up in the middle.”
WATCH: Florida vs. Auburn Final Four extended game highlights
Clayton in the locker room, too. Auburn was ahead 46-38 after the first half and Clayton had not much liked what he had seen. “Walt kind of got our bigs together at halftime and gave us a nice little pep talk,” Haugh said. “That’s not the (Florida) style of basketball we played at the beginning, (for Auburn to) out-physical us. That gave us extra motivation.”
Auburn had 27 points the second half. All-American Johni Broome had three. That hole plugged, someone for the Gators would just have to make enough shots for the comeback. Anyone surprised by whom?
“Not at all. We know what he’s going to do when he gets the ball,” Aberdeen said.
“We trust him in those situations,” Haugh said. “He knocks down big shots day after day, so . . .”
So Florida hit the gas and it was Clayton’s foot on the accelerator. About then, the Auburn Tigers were wishing he would have stuck to football, like some thought he might back in high school. Almost unbelievable, what he’s been up to.
“I wouldn’t say it’s hard to believe. I’ve worked for this my whole life,” he said.
“I feel like everybody sees it,” Richard said. “He’s poised, calm and collected, confident in himself. We have that confidence in him. We see him practice, see his work ethic. We’re glad everybody else is getting to see him do it in a game.”
Auburn certainly did. “Clayton was the difference. He was just flat out the difference,” Bruce Pearl said.
The national applause is getting thunderous. Lots of people are starting to say he’s Curry in a Gator uniform.
“To be honest with you, I guess you could say I haven’t really had time to reflect on what I’ve been doing,” he said. “I’ve just been focused on us winning games with these guys. I haven’t taken the time to reflect back on the season yet.”
It was 14 years ago that Kemba Walker carried Connecticut on a journey to the national championship, leading the Huskies in scoring in every game, hitting the big shot whenever required. In Florida, an eight-year-old boy was watching, and remembering.
“I was still young,” Clayton said the other day. “But that’s one of those moments where you look at and think, that’s a big stage. I want to be in his shoes.”
Somewhere out there Saturday, young kids were watching Walter Clayton Jr., hoping one day to be in his shoes.
Which of his Saturday shots might they be talking about in 14 years?
“If we don’t get it done,” he said of Monday night, “they probably won’t be talking about none of them.”
