No. 3 Florida looks to slay another giant at No. 22 Mississippi State

Florida guard Walter Clayton understands how hard it is to get a win on the road in the Southeastern Conference.But the No. 3 Gators sure made it look easy Saturday at No. 1 Auburn, opening up a 21-point second half lead en route to a 90-81 victory that was their second win this season against a top-ranked squad.For an encore, Florida will stay on the road Tuesday night to play No. 22 Mississippi State in Starkville.The Gators (20-3, 7-3 SEC) played at a national championship level Saturday, particularly Clayton. Returning from an ankle injury that kept him out of their previous game, a win over Vanderbilt, Clayton played all 40 minutes and finished with 19 points, nine assists and six rebounds.Clayton’s iron-man performance was as much necessity as it was reward for great play. Florida’s No. 2 scorer, guard Alijah Martin, sat out with a hip pointer.”We’ve all got a ‘next-man-up’ mentality,” Clayton said. “Alijah wasn’t on the court but Alijah’s still there. He was talking the whole game. He was telling us what he’s seeing. It was a lot of great communication between us and we executed.”Five players finished in double figures, while the defense held the Tigers to 42.9 percent shooting, including 7 of 22 on 3-pointers. It was a win that might have major ramifications not just for SEC tournament seeding but for NCAA Tournament seeding, according to coach Todd Golden.”It’s a needle-mover,” he said. “The biggest key was the mental toughness of our team.”Clayton leads a balanced attack with 17.5 points and 4.0 assists per game, while Martin hits for 15.3 points. Will Richard adds 13.3 points and Alex Condon scores 11.0 points to go along with a team-high 8.1 rebounds.Florida had no update to Martin’s status as of Sunday night.