The milestones and awards keep piling up for Bartow grad Walter Clayton Jr. as senior year at Florida winds down in the NCAA tournament.
In Florida’s first win in the tournament, 95-69 over Norfolk State, Clayton scored 23 points to go over 2,000 points for his career, which includes two years at Iona College in New York. He is one of five four-year players active this season to reach that milestone.
It’s been a stellar season for Clayton, who leads the Gators with 17.9 points per game and 4.2 assists per game.
Clayton already swept first-team, All-America honors by by all four major outlets: the Associated Press, The Sporting News, the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
The Gators point guard also was first team, All-SEC (Coaches, AP, USA Today) in lead Florida (32-4) to its fifth SEC Tournament championship, its first since 2014, and its fourth 30-win season. He earned tournament MVP honors as he averaged 20.7 points and 4.7 assists.
On Sunday, Clayton scored 23 points again to lead the Gators over UConn, 77-75, to keep the Gators alive in the tournament. He was 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Following the game, he remembered is high school roots playing for Terrence McGriff at Bartow where he led the Yellow Jackets to back-to-back state titles.
“Coach McGriff is going to be my guy,” Clayton said. “He’s my guy for life. He helped me out with a lot of stuff with basketball and outside of basketball. So when I transferred to Bartow, coach McGriff, he was another father figure for me. He helped me with a lot of things in my life.”
Clayton’s season will continue on Thursday when Florida plays Maryland in the Sweet 16. A victory would put the Gators in the Elite 8 against the Texas Tech-Arkansas winner this weekend.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Gators' Clayton keeps reaching milestones and winning awards
