The Athletic has live coverage of the Men’s Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament games
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s fitting, given the building they’re going to play in on Thursday, that Maryland coach Kevin Willard would compare Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. to a certain 11-time NBA All-Star.
“He reminds me of Steph a little bit of how good he is off the dribble,” Willard said.
That would be Steph Curry, the man widely considered the greatest shooter in NBA history. Photos of Curry adorn almost every wall throughout the Chase Center, many of them with him holding up one of the four championship trophies he’s won with the Golden State Warriors.
Clayton Jr. is chasing his championship as the point guard for the No. 1 seed Florida Gators, who meet the fourth-seeded Terrapins on Thursday evening for a spot in the Elite Eight.
“Especially to people in the Bay, it might be crazy to compare him to Steph — he’s won a ton of championships and MVPs, but from a college version I think it’s applicable to say he’s similar to Steph,” said Florida coach Todd Golden, who is especially familiar with Curry after coaching nearby at the University of San Francisco from 2019 to 2022. “His off-balance shooting, his ability to get his shot off at different times and just his confidence to let it fly from deep. I think those things are very similar to Steph.”
Certainly, they have similar builds. Clayton Jr. is 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, while Curry checks in at 6-2 and 185. They both shoot well on the move — a skill Curry has said is one of the toughest to master — and neither seems concerned that any look is out of range.
Walter Clayton Jr. 🤝 Steph Curry
(Via @OptaStats) pic.twitter.com/IgDMyDYZwJ
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) March 23, 2025
Clayton Jr. himself seemed hesitant to agree, saying that while it’s flattering to have anyone say he resembles Curry, he’s not so sure how much he’s like “one of the greatest ever,” the point guard who “changed the game.”
Clayton Jr.’s basic stats — 17.9 points, 4.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting 44.6 percent — could help anyone understand why the senior guard has collected numerous All-America awards this season and is one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy award, given annually to the best point guard in men’s college hoops. But it’s the basketball junkie analytics that will really make your eyes pop, according to Willard.
“He shoots the basketball going left 48 percent. He shoots it right going at, like, 38 percent,” Willard said. “We get a scouting report done by (Sports Analytics Advantage), and he grades better than any player they’ve ever had analytically, shooting the basketball off the dribble going right, off the dribble, going left.”
One of Willard’s biggest takeaways from studying all those numbers and watching so much film: Only fools will go under screens when guarding Clayton Jr. Defenders who have guarded Curry can relate.
The Curry comparison is pretty far from what UConn coach Dan Hurley said last week. The day before the two-time defending champion Huskies let Clayton Jr. go off for 23 points in the Gators’ 77-75 second-round win, Hurley said Clayton and his quick release remind Hurley of Fred VanVleet.
Golden also sees a little Jalen Brunson in Clayton Jr., too, because of his ability to “handle the ball, but get off (the ball), get it back and be a playmaker, decision-maker.”
Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. is averaging 17.9 points, 4.2 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting 44.6 percent. (Zachary Taft / Imagn Images)
To recap: Curry was the seventh pick in the 2009 NBA Draft out of Davidson College. VanVleet went undrafted out of Wichita State in 2016 but landed with the Raptors and became a key player in their 2019 championship run. He’s now with the Houston Rockets. Brunson, a star with the New York Knicks, was the No. 33 pick in the 2018 draft after leading Villanova to two NCAA titles (2016 and 2018). Clayton Jr. is projected as a mid-to-late second-round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
That Clayton Jr. is drawing comparisons to any NBA player is wild when you consider his path.
A highly recruited football safety, Clayton Jr. spurned scholarship offers from Notre Dame, Georgia, Tennessee, Nebraska and Florida, among others. His basketball suitors were mid-majors, which is how he landed at Iona. He earned All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference honors as a freshman and sophomore before transferring to Florida before the 2023-24 season.
Alijah Martin, one of Florida’s other starting guards, said he’s regularly reminded of Clayton Jr.’s football background given his physical play and “dominance every night.”
But the most impressive thing, according to nearly everyone in the Gators’ locker room, is Clayton Jr.’s ability to take over any game at any time.
That was obvious last week against UConn, when he scored 13 of his 23 points in the final eight minutes to lift the Gators to the Sweet 16.
“He just went ballistic,” said center Alex Condon. “There’s no one else we’d rather have take the shot than Walt, so getting the ball in his hands at the right time is something I try to do down the stretch. He’s an amazing player and can create space at any time.”
But Condon wanted to add one caveat. Clayton Jr. dominates just about everywhere … except when it comes to video games.
Though Clayton Jr. lists it as his “hidden talent” on the Gators’ official school website, Condon bragged that he “smoked him in (NBA) 2K” during downtime last weekend in Raleigh, N.C.
But in San Francisco, Clayton Jr. insisted on setting the record straight. Asked who is actually the best NBA2K player on the team, Clayton Jr. didn’t hesitate.
“By far me,” he said. “No doubt about it. I’ve given up video games this last month to lock in on this run, but we played (last week). Alex Condon beat me at 2K, but the input lag on the TV was going on. I’m a PlayStation player playing on an Xbox. So I’ve got a couple of excuses. I’m going to get him back soon, though.”
That claim lines up perfectly with how Condon said Clayton Jr. reacted last weekend: “He sucks at losing.”
That sounds like Curry, too.
(Photo of Walter Clayton Jr.: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)
