Condon's perfect shooting night trumps imperfect rebounding effort

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Alex Condon had just scored a career-high 23 points on all seven of his field goal attempts, helping the 21st-ranked Florida Gators to a relatively easy 81-60 victory over Jacksonville in their home opener Thursday night. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound sophomore forward known as “Condo” deserved to be on the podium after the game.

“It was a strange game for me,” Condon said after topping his career high with 10 points while also adding to his offensive game with a pair of three-pointers. “I haven’t recovered.”

That's correct. Condon, who averaged 6.4 rebounds per game last season (good enough for ninth in the Southeastern Conference as a freshman), managed only a poor board against a larger-than-life opponent, but the rest of the Gators bounced back as well not really. and the UF coach didn’t like that Todd Golden.

“Obviously we want him to get better on the glass,” Golden said of his Australian big man. “That was a conversation we had with him; not necessarily [just] him specifically, but with the entire team afterwards. I thought we played a pretty good game, but we didn’t recover well enough if we want to be the team we’re capable of being.”

In addition to Condon, the Gators (2-0) got a great all-around ground game from the fifth-year guard Aliyah Martinthe Florida Atlantic transfer who scored 15 points, grabbed four rebounds, had four assists (with one turnover) and had a career-best six steals in his UF home debut.


“I wanted to make sure my first game here was a demonstration of that Aliyah Martin “I can bring the Florida Gators to the table,” Martin said in the third person after going 5-for-9 from the floor, 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and sinking both free throws. “I think I've done one.” Good job.


Senior wing Will Richard had 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals while he was a senior point guard Walter Clayton Jr. had nine points and a career-best seven assists. Backup forward Sam Alexisthe Tennessee-Chattanooga transfer, also making his O'Dome debut, finished the game with 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in just 15 minutes.


Florida made nearly 53 percent of its shots in the game, held the Dolphins (1-1) to just under 38 percent in the game (with 10 steals) and scored 46 points in the paint. However, JU outscored UF on the glass 40-35, including an 18-12 advantage on offense. At one point in the game, the Dolphins had 10 offensive rebounds and the Gators, who ranked eighth nationally in offensive rebound efficiency last season, had just one. Jacksonville also had 16 second-chance points.


Announce the concern.

“Basically we’re not doing well at the moment,” Golden said of his team’s recovery. “Part of it is a combination of excessive tension and trying to run and chase the ball as opposed to hitting bodies, holding on to them and catching it. We had a couple where we sprinted in to rebound and the ball went. “We need to eliminate some of that. It's an area where we haven't been as good as we need to be.


Much like the team's 3-point shooting, which was 29.2 percent against JU (7 of 24), compared to 25 in Monday's season-opening win over South Florida. However, as in the game against the Bulls, the Gators were extremely efficient from 2-point range with 23 of 33 (69.7 percent).


UF was on target early, firing its first eight shots of the game, but led by just one point midway through the half before a 16-2 run helped it take a 14-point lead (46-1) at halftime. 32) to open. The Gators hit their first five shots out of the locker room to take a 19-point lead.

 

En route to extending the lead to as many as 27, with the score at 6-2, Clayton hit a fast-paced slam dunk in transition traffic that sent the O'Dome crowd and his teammates into a frenzy.

“Crazy!” Martin said. “I don't know what happened. I mean, I knowledge What happened, I still couldn't believe it.

Wow, Walt! https://t.co/FaFVG7hlKT

– Chris Harry (@GatorsChris) November 8, 2024

That could be what the team says about Florida's recovery as it reviews tape over the next few days leading up to Monday's home game against Grambling. The Gators can expect criticism.

Probably even welcome it.

“If this team is going to be good, I have to come in and recover,” Condon said.

Email senior author Chris Harry at [email protected]