Florida point guard Walter Clayton Jr. walked around campus Monday without a protective boot, a positive sign in his recovery from a sprained left ankle.
Clayton rolled his ankle late in the first half of a lopsided loss at then-No. 8 Tennessee on Saturday. He returned to start the second half but slipped in front of the bench to give coach Todd Golden and his teammates another scare.
Clayton finished with 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting. He had no assists and three turnovers in 27 minutes.
The Gators (18-3, 5-3 Southeastern Conference), who fell one spot to No. 6 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released Monday, host Vanderbilt (16-5, 4-4) on Tuesday night. Clayton’s health will be something to watch.
“Obviously we avoided anything too serious, which is awesome,” Golden said. “He definitely tweaked his ankle pretty good there in the first half. Second half, slipped in front of our bench. I don’t think there was anything added on because of that. Just kind of a fluky deal.
“He’s been knocking out his rehab and is recovering. He’s moving around pretty well, but we’ll take it hour by hour right now and see how it goes in practice. I think [Tuesday] when he wakes up will be a big determinant in if he goes or not.”
Clayton leads Florida in scoring, averaging 17.4 points. He also has a team-best 79 assists and ranks third with 28 steals.
“He’s a tough kid,” teammate Thomas Haugh said. “I think he’ll be good.”
The Gators expect to play much better with or without Clayton. They lost by 20 points to the Volunteers, who exacted a measure of revenge following a 30-point loss in Gainesville in early January.
Florida shot 24.5% from the field, made 4 of 27 shots from 3-point range, had 13 turnovers and only three second-chance points. The Gators have grown accustomed to dictating pace and exerting their will on opponents, but they were dominated in Knoxville.
Florida had plenty of company by the end of the night, becoming the first of a handful of ranked teams to lose. That made Golden feel slightly better.
“Winning is very hard,” Golden said. “We’ve grown to expect our team to win every night, which is a great place to be and shown some great growth in our program. We got knocked on our butt Saturday and have to make sure it doesn’t happen Tuesday night.”