BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Walter Clayton Jr. wasn’t sure exactly when it happened. Maybe it was during his 13-point first half. Maybe during a pivotal second-half run when he scored eight of his team’s 10 points. It could have been after one of his six 3-pointers that bedazzled the Barclays Center crowd and bedeviled the Pittsburgh Panthers.
Whenever it was, the timing was exquisite, and only Rick Pitino could get away with it.
Pitino, the Hall-of-Fame coach who mentored Clayton the last two years about 25 minutes away at Iona, sat courtside for the NIT Season Tip-Off contest and had some words for his former standout guard during a spectacular 28-point outburst that keyed the Gators’ 86-71 defeat Wednesday night of the Panthers in their first-round tournament meeting.
“You still can’t play defense,” Pitino gigged.
Clayton and his current coach, Todd Golden, laughed about the exchange afterward.
“He’s not wrong,” Golden said.
Clayton and Golden were able to have their post-game fun because the Gators mostly had a blast during a thoroughly impressive performance that had some strong individual numbers, but some eye-popping statistics for the team, as well. UF shot 47 percent for the game, including 53.3 over a second half when the Gators took the game over, and defended the Panthers at a 35-percent clip.
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