No. 6 Florida rules out point guard Walter Clayton Jr. an hour before tip against Vanderbilt

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida point guard Walter Clayton Jr. won't play against Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.

The sixth-ranked Gators ruled Clayton out about an hour before the opening tip. Denzel Aberdeen is expected to start in his place.

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.

Coach Todd Golden said Monday that “we avoided anything too serious, which is awesome.” But Clayton's ankle didn't respond like the Gators hoped, prompting them to take a cautious approach to his return.

Florida plays at top-ranked Auburn on Saturday.

Clayton leads Florida in scoring, averaging 17.4 points. He also is top on the team with 79 assists and ranks third with 28 steals.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll