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The No. 21 Florida Gators used a dominant second-half performance to defeat the South Florida Bulls 98-83 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville to begin their 2024-25 campaign.

Florida was led by the veteran guard pairing of Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard as both were very efficient all night. Clayton led all scorers with 29 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 7 of 7 from the charity stripe. Richard set a new career high with 25 points as he went 10 of 17 from the floor and brought down six rebounds.

Although Clayton and Richard had the bulk of the buckets for the Gators, it took a complete team effort to take down the Bulls. Alijah Martin, the graduate transfer guard from FAU, struggled from the field in his Florida debut but still finished with 13 points and added six boards and four steals. Sophomore forward Alex Condon also added 13 for the Gators with five rebounds, all of which were offensive.

For USF, this game was about more than just basketball as it took place just 11 days after Bulls head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim died during a surgical procedure at the age of 43. USF players wore patches with his initials, as Florida players warmed up in shirts with “Abdur-Rahim” on the back.

The Bulls came out of the gates hot. They led by as many as 13 with six minutes left in the first half. However, the Gators answered by scoring 10 straight, the last eight coming from Richard as he drained his only two 3-pointers during the run. Richard also knocked down a jumper right before the first-half buzzer sounded to cut the Gators’ deficit to just one as they trailed 40-39 at the half.

For the first 10 minutes of the second half, the game stayed tight with both teams throwing punches. But, two made free throws by Martin with 9:43 to play started a 13-0 run for the Gators that saw them jump out to a 14-point lead. Florida did not look back from there as a fast-break dunk from Richard with just over two minutes left put an exclamation point on the Gators’ victory.

Although Florida was able to pull away in the end, the long-range shooting from the Gators was not something to marvel at. They shot just 5 of 25 from beyond the arc, a 20% clip. This is something that third-year head coach Todd Golden will want his team to improve on before the Gators hit the floor again.

Even with the poor shooting from deep, this was a very promising showing from a team that has high preseason expectations for the first time in the Golden era. The Gators will be back in action on Thursday in their home opener against the Jacksonville University Dolphins at Exactech Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET after the conclusion of the women’s game against Florida A&M.