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Walter Clayton Jr. won’t be available for No. 6 Florida in its SEC showdown against Vanderbilt on Tuesday night in Gainesville.
The Gators ruled the star point guard out about an hour before the 7 p.m. ET tip-off (SEC Network) because of a sprained ankle. Junior Denzel Aberdeen started in Clayton’s place, as Florida tries to bounce back from Saturday’s 20-point loss at Tennessee against the state’s other SEC school.
Clayton rolled his ankle late in the first half of the 64-44 loss in Knoxville on Saturday. He returned to start the second half but slipped in front of the bench. Clayton finished with 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting, with 0 assists and 3 turnovers in 27 minutes.
Clayton was listed as questionable on Monday night’s injury report, but Gators head coach Todd Golden was expecting the leader of his offense to be available for Tuesday night’s game.
About 24 hours later though, Golden found out his team will have to make due without Clayton, who is averaging 17.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists this season. Clayton is only averaging 2.4 turnovers per game, so the Gators will have to find a way to limit their turnovers against Vanderbilt without the services of Clayton.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
