Clayton’s rush helps Iona blitz Delaware in non-conference finale

Walter Clayton led Iona with 21 points off bench as Gaels keyed second-half rally to soar past Delaware. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Jaden Daly (@DalyDoseOfHoops)

ELMONT, N.Y. — Had he accepted one of his multiple scholarship offers to play football, Walter Clayton could have spent his Tuesday night preparing for a College Football Playoff semifinal.

Instead, he opted to play basketball and learn under a Hall of Fame coach, and just two months into his collegiate career, authored a magnum opus against an opponent whose football program, oddly enough, modeled its own helmet and uniforms after a team he may have faced had he chosen the gridiron.

Clayton, who spurned overtures to join the secondary at Georgia and Cincinnati, along with a bevy of other Football Bowl Subdivision suitors the likes of Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State and Tennessee to play for Rick Pitino at Iona, had the first of what could be many breakout performances Tuesday, erupting for 21 points off the bench as the Gaels overcame a sluggish start to upend Delaware, wrapping up their non-conference season with an 83-72 victory over the Blue Hens inside UBS Arena.

“It helps a little bit with instincts, like being able to see something before it happens,” Clayton said of his football background and how it helps him adapt on the hardwood. “But sometimes, it messes me up too, because I’ll lose my man trying to read the passer’s eyes and stuff like that.”

“He’s going after the quarterback a lot,” Pitino quipped.

Iona (10-2) was most grateful for Clayton’s sack of the Colonial Athletic Association favorite Delaware, who scored the first nine points of the evening and led through the first half behind the torrid shooting of Jameer Nelson, Jr., who tallied 19 of his 29 points in the opening stanza to send the Blue Hens into the locker room with a 39-32 halftime lead.

While Nelly Junior Joseph amassed a double-double in the opening frame alone on his way to 14 points and just as many rebounds, it was Clayton who set the stage for what was to come on the heels of the intermission. The freshman point guard intercepted a rebound before feeding Tyson Jolly for a 3-pointer in transition, then took matters into his own hands just over a minute later with a trifecta of his own to punctuate a 10-0 run that gave Iona its first lead of the night, a 42-39 edge with 17:43 remaining in regulation.

The two teams would trade baskets before Delaware forged a brief lead again, but Clayton found a way to paydirt once more, scoring five straight points to tip the scales the way of the Gaels again on a trey and ensuing jumper to give Iona a lead it would never relinquish. The Floridian then made an impact beyond the box score, spacing the floor enough for Tyson Jolly to knock down three consecutive threes as part of a 16-4 Iona spurt that extended the lead to 11. Delaware would pull within eight shortly thereafter, but Clayton was there to yet again slam the door, with back-to-back triples of his own to put Iona up 69-55 with just over six minutes to play, ensuring the Blue Hens would not draw within three possessions for the remainder of the contest.

“I’ve had a lot of good freshmen, obviously at Kentucky and Louisville, but I’d put him up there with some of the real good ones I’ve had,” Pitino said of Clayton. “As he grows, he gets better and better and better. He’s got good size, he’s a 6’3 point guard who shoots it well, he’s unselfish, he has a great attitude, he’s a willing learner, his attitude matches his game. He’s just fun to coach for a freshman.”

“I see a lot of Donovan Mitchell in him. I don’t mean to put that pressure on him, but he’s got that great attitude that Donovan Mitchell had and he’s got great professionalism. He’s really got moxie as a basketball player.”

Coming off a whirlwind weekend where a marquee game at Madison Square Garden against Seton Hall was canceled amid COVID-19 issues with the Pirates, Iona wraps up a non-conference season highlighted by a win over a Top 10-ranked Alabama team and now returns to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play, where it swept its first two games earlier this month against Marist and Rider, with momentum to further what appears to be a special season if early results hold to form.

“We had a lot of rust from not playing,” Pitino admitted. “We didn’t play real good defense in the first half, got ourselves behind, but we came out loaded from there and played a great second half. We’ll be ready. We’ve got a good group of guys with a good attitude, who are willing to learn to get better.”