Urban Klavzar steps up for No. 2 Florida, going from unremarkable to indispensable

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Urban Klavzar was an afterthought when the season began, the fifth guard on Florida’s talented roster. He even missed the first three games while awaiting NCAA clearance.

Once he did play — getting on the court in mop-up duty — he looked more like a walk-on than a starter-in-waiting. He missed 23 of 33 shots, hitting just 3 of 16 from 3-point range, and had coaches and teammates wondering what was going on with a guy who had been so difficult to defend in practice.

Klavzar wasn’t sure, either.

But he kept working — and waiting. He finally got a chance when starting guards Walter Clayton Jr. (ankle) and Alijah Martin (hip pointer) missed time. And Klavzar has since made him himself indispensable for the second-ranked Gators (23-3, 10-3 Southeastern Conference).

He has hit 11 of 18 shots during Florida’s five-game winning streak, including 9 of 13 from behind the arc. He drained consecutive 3s in a win against Vanderbilt in early February and then went 3 for 3 from distance at top-ranked Auburn four days later, including two in a 13-second span that helped the Gators pull off one of the biggest upsets of the season.

On Tuesday night against Oklahoma, his coast-to-coast drive in the final seconds of the first half was as impressive a play as any of the ones made by Florida’s Big Three: Clayton, Martin and Will Richard.

“He’s really raised his level,” coach Todd Golden said. “We just have a deep team, and we’ve had a bunch of guys step up when their numbers are called.”

Klavzar finished with a career-high 10 points in 22 minutes in an 85-63 romp over the Sooners. His 3-pointer from the corner in the first half started a 17-3 run that turned a six-point game into a rout and left Oklahoma coach Porter Moser shaking his head the rest of the night.

“They have the pieces to win it all,” Moser said. “They defend very hard. They protect the rim. They shoot it. They have really good positional size. They’ve got five guys who have great range. I think they’re one of about five or six teams that could be playing on that last weekend, without a doubt.

“Your head just explodes with the level of (talent) with a handful of these teams, and Florida is absolutely right there with the best of this league.”

No one should be stunned to see the Gators with their highest ranking since entering the NCAA Tournament at No. 1 in 2014. Florida’s starting backcourt — Clayton, Martin and Richard — has played a combined 400 collegiate games. And big men Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu provide plenty of punch in the paint.

But Florida’s depth has been the shocker. Backup guard Denzel Aberdeen has made huge strides in three years under Golden. Center Micah Handlogten, after weeks of waffling, chose to give up a medical redshirt and play 11 months after gruesomely breaking his left leg — and is showing flashes of returning to form.

And then there’s Klavzar, who is considered a sophomore because he played 13 games at Catholic University of Murcia in Spain during the 2022-23 season.

“You always got to be ready and patient, even if you can’t hit shots or if you’re not getting a lot of minutes, I think you always got to stay ready,” Klavzar said. “Got to be professional, and I think patience is one of the most important things in basketball.”

The 6-foot-1 guard from Domzale, Slovenia, has five assists, four rebounds and three steals in the last five games while delivering eye-popping plays on both ends of the floor.

“It’s definitely hard to do what he’s doing,” Clayton said. “But Urb’s in the gym all the time; Urb’s getting shots up. It’s definitely hard. I think he’s doing his best to stay warm over there for whenever he does come in. He’s staying ready. I’m glad he knocking down shots; it’s been big for us.”

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