{"id":86897,"date":"2025-03-30T10:18:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T15:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/walter-clayton-breaks-down-mindset-during-clutch-moments\/"},"modified":"2025-03-30T10:18:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T15:18:35","slug":"walter-clayton-breaks-down-mindset-during-clutch-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/walter-clayton-breaks-down-mindset-during-clutch-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"Walter Clayton breaks down mindset during clutch moments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two shots on Saturday solidified Walter Clayton Jr.\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> status as a Florida<\/a><\/strong> legend. With two minutes left in Florida\u2019s Elite Eight showdown against Texas Tech<\/a><\/strong>, the Gators trailed 75-72. Then, with 1:47 remaining on the game clock, Clayton\u2019s clutch gene kicked.<\/p>\n

Clayton came off a screen with two defenders trailing him and after reaching the left wing, hit a nasty stepback to his right and drained a 3-pointer to tie the game. Clayton didn\u2019t stop there. Just 48 seconds later, Clayton nailed an even more ridiculous stepback to give Florida its first lead since the 13:26 mark of the second half.<\/p>\n

The Gators didn\u2019t allow Clayton\u2019s clutch performance to go to waste. After sinking a few late-game free throws, Florida walked away with an 84-79 triumph to appear in its first Final Four since 2014. After the game, Clayton reflected on his back-to-back clutch triples.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely seen them, a couple shots went in, they kind of turned around looked at their bench, like, how,\u201d Clayton said<\/a><\/strong>. \u201cNothing was going through my mind. My mind was blank. Thankful that the shots went in. But we were locked in until the final buzzer sounded. My mind was blank, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n

WALTER CLAYTON JR IS NOT HUMAN pic.twitter.com\/0y3QLxaTGL<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Those shots were far from Clayton\u2019s only contributions to the Gators\u2019 winning efforts. Clayton led all scorers with 30 points while shooting 7-14 from the field, 3-8 from beyond the arc and 13-14 from the charity stripe.<\/p>\n

With the performance, Clayton became the first player in program history to have multiple 30-point games in the NCAA Tournament. After the victory, Gators head coach Todd Golden<\/a><\/strong> raved about his star point guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not another player in America you would rather have right now than Walter Clayton with the ball in his hands in a big-time moment,\u201d Golden said. \u201cHe said he blacked out or whatever. He doesn\u2019t get too high or too low. He does a great job controlling his emotions.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost players, in that moment, their heart rate would get up. He has that special talent and ability to stay even-keeled. The biggest thing in those moments is you need to have somebody that wants to take those shots. They\u2019re obviously difficult plays, but someone that has the confidence to step up and make incredible individual plays. And Walter did that for us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Final Four, Florida will face off against the winner between 1-seed Auburn<\/a><\/strong> and 2-seed Michigan<\/a><\/strong> State. Florida met Auburn earlier this season on Feb. 8 and defeated the Tigers 90-81.<\/p>\n

The post Walter Clayton breaks down mindset during clutch moments<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two shots on Saturday solidified Walter Clayton Jr.\u2019s status as a Florida legend. With two…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}