Tag: Quotes

‘I thought we did a great job’: Todd Golden talks home win vs. Georgia

Here’s what the Gators skipper had to offer on his team’s blowout victory of the ‘Dawgs on Saturday.

Florida basketball earned its third-straight win on Saturday afternoon inside the O’Connell Center against the Georgia Bulldogs, who were routed by their hosts by a final score of 89-59. It was their 12th-straight loss against the Gators and sixth straight under former Gators head coach Mike White.

The Orange and Blue got 17 apiece from guards Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin while the duo also snagged five and four steals, respectively, to help run the ‘Dawgs out of Gainesville. Five players finished with double figures on 53.1% shooting overall and 34.6% from beyond the arc.

It was a game that Florida controlled ostensibly the whole way through despite some minor hiccups — one that [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] could feel good about. Here is what he offered to the media after his team’s 30-point win.

Opening statement

“Just super proud of our guys and our staff. I thought they did a great job preparing for this game. This is a really good Georgia team that we played. They obviously should have beat Auburn at home last week, been a top-25 team. The thing that I’m most happy about is that we came out with a great mentality, similar to last Saturday against Texas.

“And what we’re trying to impress upon our team is if we bring that elite mentality and effort level in every game, especially at home, we’re going to be really tough to play with. Got to do it on the road, obviously, as well. But in these opportunities, where you get good teams on your home floor, you got to take advantage of it. I thought we did that today.”

On Walter Clayton Jr.’s performance

“He’s a fantastic player. He does a great job of playing with good pace and patience. I don’t want to say it comes easy to him, but a little bit. He sees things other guys don’t and is able to get to his spots. I think he played with great poise. I thought his floor game was fantastic: five assists, one turnover, passed up a couple shots that he turned into assists for other guys or some two-point field goals.

“But he’s being discussed as an All-American for a reason. He deserves that conversation, one of the best guards in America and continues to deliver for us in big moments.”

On Florida forcing 18 turnovers

“I thought our defense got us going in the first half. I thought our activity on the defensive end, we got some good run-outs, which really got us going. The building came alive.

“Before I continue, our crowd has been amazing, absolutely amazing, especially on these weekend games. They help create such a great home-court advantage for us. Just the way the energy in the building, just right before tip you can feel it, and they’ve carried us in a big way at home. So I want to say thank you to the support that our players and our program are getting from the fans, especially in our home arena.

“But to the point that we were discussing about defense, we had 20 deflections in the first half, and that’s a number that we have not gotten close to for a long time. I think they had 14 turnovers in the first half, and we were just really able to open up the game because of our defensive activity.”

On Clayton’s 5 steals in 1st half

“I think him and Martin were incredibly active defensively in the first half and provided a lot of those run-outs for us. But I thought Coach McCray and Coach Andrzejek did a good job putting together our defensive game plan. We were on their stuff. We forced a lot of turnovers, which is something that we haven’t done a lot this year.

“We have the last two games, but we knew with them, the way they play, they really want to attack the paint, attack the rim. We did a good job keeping them out of there, forced them to make more skilled passes, which we were able to deflect or intercept and turn it off of.”

On Gators limiting Georgia’s Asa Newell

“Yeah, he’s a fantastic talent, but we have a lot of pride on our team, and our frontcourt players have a lot of pride. They know that he’s on draft boards and being discussed as a top prospect. Anytime our guys go up against a player like that, they accept it as a challenge. And I thought we did a great job neutralizing him tonight.”

On Florida’s strong start defensively

“I thought we did a good job with our full-court pressure; we turned them over three times. And then just with our ball-screen defense, we did a good job tagging, making them throw out and across a couple that turned into out-of-bounds and turned into turnovers that way. But, yeah, again, just that activity defensively definitely got us off to a great start.”

Latest on Micah Handlogten

“To his credit, he’s had an incredible recovery, and I think he was ready probably a little sooner than he anticipated just because he had no setbacks and obviously that’s a serious injury and you know because of our medical team and the medical team at the SEC he was able to get to the hospital.

“And then surgery went really well and it ended up being a pretty normal recovery for such a tough injury and Micah has been able to be back practicing with us for a while now and it’s a very emotional thing. It’s a very emotional decision and I can understand why someone in his shoes might have second thoughts.

“I think he had kind of gotten himself to the point where he was ready, he actually had a great practice yesterday, and you know as he continued to think about it he just had some second thoughts and the bottom line is with a situation like that you have to be all the way in if you’re gonna come back.  And he understood, he knows, we weren’t pressuring him into this decision this was something we told him, this was up to him, when he wants to come back.

“I think he was really excited about the possibility of playing and then once it became real, I think he just had some more thoughts about it, and it is what it is, we would love to him out there but at the same time we understand the injury was really severe and it’s gonna be his decision on when he comes back.”

Is Handlogten out for the season?

“It’s a good question. I think it’s gonna be fluid. As of this moment, I would say he’s probably out. But he could wake up tomorrow and call me and say, ‘Hey man, that looked fun. Maybe let’s get out there next Saturday.’ But we’re gonna let him create his own timeline for returning. Whether that’s next week or next year is really gonna be up to him.”

On Florida’s rebounding performance

“I thought we did a great job in the first half, we were only up plus-four in the first half but I thought, first of all, we didn’t miss many shots in the first half, so we only had a few opportunities on the offensive glass. I thought our defensive rebounding was pretty good.

“To be honest in the second half I thought we relaxed a little bit on the defensive glass, we weren’t pinning as much, we weren’t blocking out as well and we allowed them to get some second chances, they continued to play hard credit to them but we talk about it a lot, and that was a big thing with the Missouri game a couple of weeks ago, one of the strengths of our team is we generally win the rebounding battle and that creates a wider margin for error for us.

“And in the Missouri game, I think we lost the boards by one or two, we didn’t create, but over the last couple of games with the exception of South Carolina we have. If we’re gonna outrebound teams by seven, eight, nine or 10 we’re gonna have a really good chance to win. It’s going to continue to be important part of our system and the way we play.”

How quickly can Handlogten return?

“He’s healthy. He’s been practicing and playing five on five in practice. I mean, he’s been going up against some really good SEC bigs every day in practice and we wouldn’t have allowed him to make that initial decision if we didn’t think he was ready. I think he could play.

“But again, it’s up to him. I want to make that very clear. We are not trying to pressure him to be out there if he’s not comfortable. Do I think he could be out there playing, yeah, but again he almost missed half the year. The game has changed a little bit.

“These guys have kind of have the ability to decide their paths and with his situation being so unique and that injury being so severe we have a lot of patience and understanding with his decision making, what he’s going through.”

On overwhelming opposing defenses

“I mean, we got a lot of weapons. And I do think in this building specifically, we obviously can get it going pretty good in here. And my biggest thing, like we discussed earlier, is mentality and approach. And if we play hard, and we’re physical and we’re being proactive and not reactive, I think generally good things will happen in here.

“But when we shoot the ball well to start the game like that and our defensive activity is the way it is, we’re not going to be beat in here is the bottom line. But you’re not always gonna start the game going 10 for 12 from the field or whatever it was and make every shot, but we had great momentum and again, I thought the crowd gave us a big lift today.”

On not being affected by early fouls

“It probably bothered me more than the players. But our guys, they did a good job. Condon picked up a couple of early ones. He was in foul trouble most of the night, but we were still able to get 24 good minutes out of him.

“And to your point, I thought our guys handled the first four minutes of the game well. And the refs, they did a great job. There was just an emotional start and we were getting kind of fired up, getting in the moment. But I thought our guys kept their heads well.”

On Clayton scoring 3 straight field goals

“We called a timeout when it was 19 and just told the guys. Our halftime talk was just like, hey, let’s try to win this game by 40, right? We’re up 25, let’s try to win by 40. Let’s not just find a way to kind of bleed this thing down to zeros on the clock.

“And we did not come out with that approach to start the game. We weren’t physical, we weren’t rebounding. We were kind of not going through the motions, but we weren’t playing with the same level of intensity as we were in the first half.

“So called time out, reminded our guys, what our goal was and what the hopes were in terms of the way we played. And from that point on, you know, we outscored them by 11 the rest of the half. So we answered. I thought Walter was super smooth and really good in the second half. And all of our guys, for the most part, played really well.”

What UF will work on with week off

“We have plenty of things that we gotta work on and get better. Gotta finish a little better inside. We gotta make sure we continue to defend at a high level. And we gotta make sure we get really healthy, you know, going into the last 12 games of the regular season. So this break comes at a good time for us.

“We’re starting to get a little banged up, a little sick. And now with this midweek bye, I feel like we should be able to kind of get back organized and ready to go for what’s going to be a war next Saturday in Knoxville.”

Next up for Florida

The Gators get the week off and will return to action next Saturday, Feb. 1, in Knoxville for a rematch with the Tennessee Volunteers. Gametime is slated for an early noon ET start and the action will be broadcast on ESPN.

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Todd Golden, Will Richard talk Florida’s narrow win over South Carolina

Here’s what Todd Golden and Will Richard had to say after Florida escaped Columbia with a 1-point win over South Carolina.

It was almost a devastating loss for Florida basketball on Wednesday night, but thanks to some second-half heroics that included a massive last-minute push, the Gators escaped Columbia with a 70-69 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Until the final seconds of the game, the Orange and Blue were unable to grab the lead, trailing for the entire 39-plus minutes prior. The first half was a weird one that saw [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag]’s gang shoot fairly well but still found themselves on the short end of the stick at halftime; the second half saw the team turn up the intensity enough to prevail in the end.

Following the win, Golden and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] — who finished tied for the game-high in points with 22 — spoke to the media about what transpired on Wednesday night.

Todd Golden’s opening statement

“Obviously, I’m thrilled to be able to sneak out of here with a win. I thought South Carolina played very well. I thought they controlled the game. I thought they were the more physical team. I thought they hit big shots and stepped up in big moments. They played a very good game.

“I am very proud of our guys, though, for staying the course. Obviously, being down 14 with 12 minutes to go, it wasn’t looking great, but our guys were able to execute defensively and turn them over a little bit and then step up and hit some big shots.

“I thought Will Richard was fantastic tonight, thousandth point in a Gator uniform as he finished that layup to give us the lead. He’s a guy that’s been battling through some injuries and continues to put the team first.

“I’m really proud of him for a moment like that, late in the game, being able to make the game-winning basket down the stretch. But again, great respect for Lamont (Paris) and South Carolina. They’re much, much better than their record indicates in conference play.”

On going into full-court press

“Obviously, just with Thomas being out, they don’t have as much depth in the backcourt as they usually do. Jacobi played a lot of minutes, and our hope was we’d be able to wear him and their team down a little bit and didn’t really feel like we did.

“But the press definitely bothered them. We turned them over quite a bit in the second half. We got 13 steals. A lot of those were live-ball turnovers that allowed us to get layups and threes. Honestly, I probably should’ve went to it a little earlier.

“Not something that we do a lot, but again, our guys were able to execute out of a timeout, and we just stuck with it for the rest of the game.”

On sticking with it despite being down 14

“We came out at halftime down seven and thought we were playing better in the second half, but we were not making many shots. We missed some that we normally make.

“I thought their physicality around the rim really, really bothered us. And even though we were playing better, the deficit was going the wrong way for us. Again, this is the benefit of having such a mature, veteran backcourt, having guys that aren’t going to get too rattled regardless of the circumstance. We just talked about one possession at a time. We’re not going to get back in this game playing hero ball. We’re not going to get back in this game gambling and allowing them to get layups and dunks.

“The big thing that I thought we were able to do was, obviously bother them with the full-court press, but if they did break it we only gave up one or two cheap baskets out of it. We were able to get back and get our defense set and force them into some tougher possessions.

“Obviously, that was a huge part of it. Will specifically, it’s just been awesome being with him for these three years. As you know, he was the first guy that committed to us when we got the job, and he embodies what we want this program to be about. He’s a great young man, is going to graduate from Florida, and he continues to get better and better as a basketball player. He’s become a much more complete player this year, and his offense was on full display tonight, specifically in the second half.”

On Alijah Martin’s big plays down stretch

“Listen, all three of those guys – Walt (Clayton), Will (Richard) and A-Mart – are gamers. Those guys are confident dudes. They all want the ball in their own hands in big moments, and they’re not afraid to take the big shot. Will’s hammer three was huge, and then A-Mart’s and-one was huge.

“Walt made some great plays tonight, had seven assists, 16 points, four rebounds. It’s a luxury to have those three guys in the backcourt, and then Denzel (Aberdeen) I thought gave us some big minutes off the bench, had some steals in the second half (with) some offense created off that. But they’re very good players, and they stepped up in a game that we didn’t have our best.”

Will Richard on the end-of-game events

“I was just trying to be aggressive. I knew we were down one. The play was to get me a little slip three or get Walt a layup, but I saw the (defender) close out a little hard and I went. (Alex) Condon did a great job of ducking, and I just had to do a great job of finishing it.”

On value of wins like this

“It’s big for us. It’s always hard to win an SEC game, let alone one on the road. It’s big for us and good for confidence knowing we’re a resilient team and can bounce back no matter what.”

Next up for Florida

The Gators return home to host the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday, Jan. 25 inside the O’Connell Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

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Todd Golden talks Florida’s win over Texas Longhorns

Florida snowballed against Texas Tuesday night and ended on a 23-6 run to win by 24. Here’s what head coach Todd Golden said after the win.

Florida got back to winning in the O’Connell Center Saturday afternoon as the Gators defeated the Texas Longhorns, 84-60, improving to 3-2 against the Southeastern Conference.

Head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] came into Saturday hoping his team would show some fire in the first half after coming out slow against Missouri and losing by a point earlier in the week. It took a few rotations, but Florida pulled ahead relatively earlier and never really struggled to grow the lead over time.

The Gators played with a good level of physicality and controlled the rebound game, another item on Golden’s checklist. Florida’s head coach spoke with the media after the win.

Opening Statement

“Yeah, just really happy and proud of our team. I thought our players did a great job tonight answering the challenge. We talked a lot about it after the game yesterday, that I didn’t think our mentality was where it needed to be on Tuesday night against a really good Missouri team that came in here and took advantage of it.

“And we talked a lot about it over the last 48 hours, that with this opportunity on Saturday, we just cannot allow it to happen where a team comes in here and plays harder than us. To the credit of our players and our staff, I thought we played incredibly hard. We were not perfect. We had some silly turnovers in transition, some missed coverages here and there, but when we play with that level of effort, it allows us to make some mistakes and still be victorious.

“I thought for us to win the game the way we did, and to extend it and win by 24 was a great statement coming back off Tuesday night.”

On defensive growth seen after limiting Texas to 16 three-point attempts

“Well, we weren’t great the other night. So, we’ve grown in the past, 48, 72 hours. But no, our mentality and being on the scout was much better tonight.

“I thought Alijah (Martin) and Denzel (Aberdeen) did a great job on Jordan Pope, a guy that could really hurt you if you let him loose and give him some space. Stayed in his hip pocket, only gave him three attempts. He didn’t make a shot tonight, and he’s an incredible offensive player. We did an awesome job, just cutting his water, turning his water off.

“Then with Tre Johnson, you’ve got to pick your poison a little bit. Obviously, he’s an incredibly talented young man who will be a lottery pick here shortly, but our mentality was if we force him to take contested mid-ranges over the course of 40 minutes, we would have to live with it if they beat us that way.

“We talked before the game to the team about winning the battle of the paint and winning the battle behind the three-point line, and we have struggled in our losses in league in both those areas. Between the two, I think we won like 66 to 32 or something like that today. So I thought we set the tone and our guys executed our gameplan very well.”

On Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin in the clutch

“It’s obviously a big reason as to why we are where we are, and I’d throw Will (Richard) in that group as well, from a standpoint of just providing just some really big winning efforts.

“We’ve talked about his growth as a player a lot, but every time he was in the game, his 33 minutes, we had him on Tre Johnson today. In the past, he might lose a guy for a three – he was locked in. He did a wonderful job. I’ll pick on him with a few fouls on the jump shots, but he made everything really, really hard for Tre tonight.

“Tre is going to get his. He was, what, 6-for-15 from the field but only 16 points, a turnover? He wasn’t as efficient as he would have needed to be for them to beat us in here today, and that was a big part of why we were able to win.”

On hands in the lane getting Texas late into the shot clock often

“A big positive from today’s game for our defense is that we turned them over. They had 14 turnovers, and this is a team that is not turnover-prone. They play a lot of isolation, so there’s not a lot of opportunities to turn them over. But 10 live-ball steals, to your point, 14 turnovers, that was a huge, huge area as to why we won today, and I was really, really pleased with the effort on the defensive end.”

On Rueben Chinyelu’s hand, rebounding overall

“Yeah, he’s fine, probably just bruised up a little bit.

“I thought Condo was incredibly active on the glass and he was not as much on Tuesday night. Our goal is generally to be plus-10 on the glass. We were plus-eight. We can live with that in a game like this. That’s a really good job against an athletic frontcourt.

“But again,  we are a team, for us to be an elite team, we have to win in the margins as well, and we did that tonight. We took care of the ball, only eight turnovers, won the rebounding battle by eight. We track kills as a team in games. Kills equate to three stops in a row. We had eight of them tonight, so all three of those areas, we achieved our standard.”

On missed alley-oops

“I bruised my shin probably kicking my little stool during one of them.

“It’s kind of the balance, right? Our guys are playing free, they’re competing really well defensively, they’re getting on the glass and so in those moments, even as hard as it is to stomach some of those turnovers, you’ve got to live with it when you’re playing hard and you’re playing right.

“That’s what I meant earlier. We had some, not perfect plays but overall we played really hard and we played really well, so we can live with it in a game like today.”

On ending the game on a 23-6 run

“Probably a product of wearing them down a little bit. They got us early in the first half, and then we were able to sustain it and then get a lead going into halftime.

“Really happy with the way we came out of halftime. We won that first mini-game, a mini-game being the first four minutes of the half. I think we tied the second one, so we were up 10 or whatever at that point, and they got really good players. We made a couple of plays. They got an offensive rebound off a free throw, I think, blockout or off a shot, tipped out, hit a 3, then got a layup to cut it from 12 to seven.

“In that moment, we need somebody to step up, make a plan. A-Mart might have hit a 3 or we hit a big shot and then we called the timeout. The other great thing was I thought Denzel on the perimeter stepped up.

“We gave Walt a rest at the under eight and we were able to just extend it. So we were able to get him pretty good rest and let him come back and close pretty fresh. So just a really, really good effort by everybody that’s stepped on the floor today.”

On Alijah Martin being plus-18 in the second half, focusing on driving the ball

“We want to try to find ways to get him downhill. To your point, he’s a great finisher through contact. I think he had two or three and-ones today that were really tough shots that he was able to kind of get his body back in position and finish.

“Listen, he, Walt, Will, they’re all confident guys. If they see something they like, you’ve got to let them play and let them make those decisions and live with it. It’s a lot better than having guys that you feel like you have to coach and put in certain specific spots for them to always be successful.

“And Mart is a winner, man. He’s a winner. I thought he competed really well, 22 points, six rebounds, four assists, only one turnover. That’s a heck of a line right there, and he’s been a huge, huge plus for us all year.”

On Condon scoring more in the second half

“He didn’t score in the first half, but he was playing really hard and he was doing what we needed him to do. I think he was 0-for-5, but it wasn’t because of softness or because of not being physical or attacking. He was playing really hard, playing really well, just missed some shots that he normally doesn’t.

“I think everything evened out for him that way in the second half. But again, he finished with 11 and 12, four steals, had another incredible block. He’s probably one of the best guys in the country at blocking dunks. He goes up there when guys are trying to smash on his head and he does a great job of just knocking it out of there. And when he plays with that edge and that fire, he’s really, really hard to keep up with.”

On Aberdeen’s behind-the-back pass to Martin

“That was a huge play, too. That might have been the moment where we took it from 7 to 10. But Denzel, great read off the pick and roll, a little we call it rub action, where we roll the five, Condo popped, Zel put it behind the back on the money, he hits that 3. It kind of calms us down a little bit and allows us to go back on another run. But, like I said, all those guys were really impactful for our win today.”

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Todd Golden talks Texas Longhorns, Taurean Green allegations

Following a loss at home to Missouri, Florida head coach Todd Golden talked about bouncing back against Texas on Saturday. He also addressed the Taurean Green allegations.

Florida basketball head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] spoke to the media on Friday ahead of the Gators’ matchup with Texas, but the larger focus was on the recent sexual harassment allegations made against assistant coach [autotag]Taurean Green[/autotag].

Golden, who is in the middle of a Title IX probe of his own, opened the press conference with a statement on the matter.

“I simply want to say that I support my staff and I would suggest people do not rush to judgment based off a headline,” Golden said according to 247Sports’ transcription of the presser. “For me, I am just frustrated and disappointed that a Title IX mechanism that is created to protect both sides during a situation like this — that confidentiality and privacy continues to be abused.

“So, as frustrating and as disappointing and as hard as it is to do, I am going to do what I think I need to do and continue to respect the process, as I have. As always, I will continue to respect and appreciate the support for my family and our program at this time.”

Although linked above, 247Sports’ transcription of these comments deserves to be cited again. Click here for the full script from Friday’s press conference.

Golden received some follow-ups directly related to the scandals, including a straight-forward, “Is there anything you or your staff as done to be ashamed of?” back-and-forth. Golden gave a one-word answer denying any wrongdoing

“I don’t like it, but perception is perception. It is not reality,” he said. “I am in this program every day. I see how our staff acts. I see how our players act. I am proud of what we’ve done since we got here. And that’s all I can do is keep my head up and keep working.”

The players don’t seem to be distracted by the sideshow. Golden said, “Our guys do a pretty good job of staying the course and working hard” before confirming Green would stay on the sidelines through the investigation.

Golden talks Arkansas, Missouri

Moving away from the uncomfortable conversation, Golden turned to basketball talk, starting with Florida’s sluggish pace in the first half over the past week. While he’s not “super concerned about a slow start,” the third-year Gators coach wants to avoid playing like they did before the break on Tuesday.

“I thought we played relatively well in the second half, but we had dug ourselves too big of a hole to climb out of it,” Golden said. “So for me, it’s about recapturing that intensity and that physicality. I think that defines who we are and why we’ve been so successful to this point. And if we don’t play with that level, it becomes a much more even game…

“…We were not the ones delivering the blows on Tuesday night. We were the ones receiving it. We were being reactive instead of proactive – and just caught up with us. And I thought for the first time all year, really, we did not come out hair on fire with the way we played.”

The other issue Golden addressed was Florida’s foul issues over the past week. The Gators had four foul outs over the past two games after going the first 15 games without a single one.

“We have to defend better without fouling,” he said. “I think that was an issue in the Arkansas game in terms of kind of allowing them to stay in the game, especially in the second half and obviously, was a big issue for us in the Missouri game, specifically with Tommy (Haugh) in the first half. Tommy’s got to do a better job.

“At the same time, having a guy pick up four fouls in three and a half minutes, someone like him, has had foul trouble at some points but never that, is something that we just got to make sure we don’t allow to happen again. That game was called much tighter in the first half than some of these other games we played, and so we got to adjust and make sure that we don’t allow it to happen again.”

Golden previews Texas Longhorns

Florida gets a chance to reestablish itself on the boards Saturday against Texas.

“Just like with Missouri, unless we come out with a different mentality, it’s gonna be a tough game,” he said. “But we need to give ourselves the best chance by the way we come out, but we respect them and understand that they’re a very, very good team, and if we don’t compete the right way, it’s going to be a very difficult game.”

Things won’t be easy on the defensive end against Mizzou. The entire lineup can score, and Golden singled out freshman guard Tre Jonhson as a defensive priority.

“Doing a great job on Jordan Pope is very important, a guy that I’ve known since he was a young guy in high school, being a California guy,” Golden said. “Tramon Mark is obviously a very good scorer, (Arthur) Kaluma has played really well lately, I thought he had a great game against Auburn, especially in the second half, kind of getting them back in it. (Kadin) Shedrick a guy I coached against when he was a freshman has done a good job for him in the post and then they have good players coming off the bench, they play seven or eight guys, and they are a very good team.”

Golden also addressed the addition of Oklahoma and Texas to the conference this season. So far, he hasn’t seen an impact at the recruiting level but knows both have “great brands” with a chance to create a matchup that gets national attention.

There’s also the homecourt advantage each team possesses. Playing on the road against either SEC newbie is going to be difficult, but Florida doesn’t have to worry about that this year.

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Todd Golden talks Florida home loss to Missouri, lessons learned

Florida’s head coach spoke with the sports media after the Gators’ late-night home loss to Missouri.

Florida basketball suffered its second loss of the 2024-25 campaign late Tuesday night against a Missouri Tigers squad that fought tooth-and-nail from the opening tipoff, 83-82.

[autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. opened up the scoring with a 2-point jumper on the first possession, but Mizzou responded with a 3-pointer. Clayton responded with a three of his own on the next possession, but that would be the last time the Gators held the edge on the scoreboard.

The Tigers extended the lead as far as 19 points before the home team chipped away for the final score.

After losing their first home game of the season, the Gators are now 2-2 in the Southeastern Conference and 15-2 overall. [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] talked to the media afterward, offering the following statements.

Opening Statement

“Obviously disappointed, got to give a lot of credit to Missouri, and thought they played harder than us. They were more ready to play than we were, and obviously jumped on us in the first half, and we were not ready for it – and obviously starts with me. I need to do a better job making sure we’re ready to go, and making sure that we understand what’s in front of us.

“Obviously, this is a very good team that we played tonight, 3-1 in the league, 14-3 overall smacked Kansas at home. Coach Gates did a great job of putting this team together, bouncing back off the season last year and building a tournament team. Just really disappointed by our lack of enthusiasm, energy, whatever you want to call it, the first half. And obviously I thought we were pretty resilient in the second half.

“But, you know, building a 1-point hole at home or anywhere for that matter, is a really bad strategy when winning is the goal. Got to use this as a learning experience. First time this year where we feel kind of disappointed about, just our the way we execute our effort, the way we attack the game – and doesn’t get any easier in this league. We got to get back and get ready for Saturday against Texas.”

On team growing from loss

“I don’t think we’ll ever look at it fondly, but if we’re able to get back to being the gritty, competitive team that plays with the chip on their shoulder and is the more physical team, which we’ve been, pretty much every time we played this year, then, it won’t be the end of the world. You know that we lose tonight and we have to.

“We just have no other choice if we don’t bounce back and kind of find that we will struggle through the rest of this conference season. I don’t anticipate that being an issue. These guys are obviously, they’ve been great all year. It’s hard to be good. We talk about that a lot.

“And the disappointing thing is, this team has been pretty consistent with the effort and the physicality and to Missouri’s credit. I thought they laid it on us in the first half, and we seemed like we were a little surprised, caught off guard. I don’t know if we felt like we could just kind of go play that it would all work out.

“But to Missouri’s credit, they said the terms of the game early on, and it took us too long to battle back and to find a way.”

On what Missouri did defensively

“Yeah I mean, they just pressure, they pressure, they deny, they do a good job of taking away the wings. They take away your middle-of-the-floor catches, and I didn’t think we were physical enough to own that real estate to get those catches.

And, you know, Coach Gates worked with Leonard Hamilton at Florida State, and they guard very similar to how Florida State guards. And, you know, earlier in the year, we had some issues against them with turnovers, but we were able to be physical and play off two to be able to execute off of threes.

“Obviously, in the second half, we were a lot better, we scored 48 points in the second half. But you know that first half, it rattled us and we weren’t able to execute the way we needed to to win.”

On Missouri’s defensive pressure

“Yeah, it’s the way the game goes. You know, when you turn it over, they get easier run-outs in transition. You know, I thought we handled their baseline out-of-bounds defense really poorly, something we talked about, worked on, and we simply didn’t provide a good enough plan to execute.

“But there were a lot of little things over the course of 40 minutes that we are generally pretty good at, that tonight, we just weren’t. Turnovers, timely free throws, whatever it is, you can point to a lot of different things, but, you know, we were knocking on the glass tonight. We turned it over a lot, you know, there’s a lot of different reasons as to why we didn’t perform the way we needed to. But again, Missouri deserves credit for the way they bothered us.”

On his decision with 38.5 seconds remaining

“Yeah, we thought about it, yeah, thought about it. We’re right there, getting that steal, too, in front of the scorer’s table away from our bench, you know, the reality is, you play it out, though, and they make a shot, then the clock, the game’s over.

“So I’d rather, you know, try to find a way to get a possession or two more in the game and see what happens. You know, when teams are trying to bleed clock, sometimes they play on their heels. You might be able to get a steal, which we were very close to getting, you know, it’s just a 50/50 decision that we made. ”

On uncharacteristic things from Mizzou early

“We weren’t great early but to your point. I mean, Caleb Grill made some ridiculous shots, you know, and I think at least three of those four makes were relatively contested, and sometimes just got to tip your cap and stay the course.

“But they were playing very confident, you know, and he kind of got them going. I thought Crew hit a big three in that run, and, you know, got down 19 in the first half, you know, before we knew it just like that, you know, we did not take away the rim well enough. It was comfortable, you know.

“But again, I thought they played very, very well. It was – we didn’t do a good enough job, not even close, but at the same time, Missouri is a good team. They came in here and played very well, you know, with Grill, and we talk about it every time, you know, I’m with you guys, we talk about three-point defense. What do I say?

“It’s less about, you know, being able to contest it – you can’t let them get it up. If you want to control the three-point game, you can’t let them get it up. And even 10 threes after Grill is a terrible formula, he’s a very good shooter. And you know, he can shoot you out of a game like he did tonight. And our goal is to always limit three-point makes for opponents.

“You know, allowing them to come in here and make 11 was one of the differences in the game.”

On Gators rallying in second half

“I thought our effort in the second half was way better. We outscored them by 15. We played a lot better, but too little too late. One thing that we talked about a lot with our guys is we are the team that has been able to get where nobody thought we could go.

“We are a team of guys that are not supposed to be at Florida, whether it’s our players or our coaches. We are the underdogs, we have the chip on our shoulder and tonight was the first time all year that I did not feel that we competed with that mentality. And that’s something that we gotta get back for Saturday.”

On Caleb Grill stepping on line

“We were not made aware of it. I mean, I guess we could have talked to the refs. We didn’t see it. I didn’t see it, at least. And that’s on me. But yeah, normally we would have. Just like we did with the hook and hold call, we would go talk to the officials.”

If he still had a review to ask for

“Usually, if you ask them on foot on the line shots, they’ll go look at a timeout. You gotta tell them right away, though. But with the reviews, they are tricky.”

On two missed free throws by Clayton late

“Very uncharacteristic. But, you know, the reality is that was one possession of a probably 75-possession game. And it’s easy to point at things like that when you lose by one, but that was definitely not the reason why we lost. There were a lot of other things that were way more important that we just weren’t able to execute.”

Mizzou’s physicality vs rallying from 16 down

“Both. They just played with a lot of pop. They came out and they were ready to go. I’ve been a little concerned about our group in terms of we’ve just had some very emotional games lately. Really all three of our conference games so far had been very emotional and this was, for lack of a better term, a trap situation.

“We as a staff, as a program, did not think of it as a trap game. Missouri’s very good. They’re tournament team, but coming home, you know, people say, ‘Oh, the schedule is lighting up.’ It’s just not accurate in this league. Every night is gonna be a quad one or quad two opportunity. Every team has guys that are potential pros, every team for the most part is fighting for an NCAA tournament seed right now. And there’s just no easy games.

“And when you come into the game with the wrong mentality, you leave yourself susceptible to a situation like tonight where you put yourself in a really big hole and you have to dig out. But we just did not match their enthusiasm. We didn’t match the physicality and we just allowed them to come into our building to get comfortable, which just doesn’t happen very often.”

Next up for Florida

The Gators remain at home to host the Texas Longhorns on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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Todd Golden talks Florida’s win at Arkansas along with pair of players

Here’s what the representatives for the Gators had to say after their win at the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.

Saturday evening’s win in Fayetteville was a big one for Florida basketball as it earned its first road victory in Southeastern Conference play this season against the Arkansas Razorbacks, 71-63.

The Hogs put up a noble fight but the Gators were able to grind out a Quad 1 win in a game that saw both teams produce season-low offensive outputs in the opening half. Three of the visitors fouled out in this one while one of the home squad did as well.

Regardless of how it played out, a win is a win and the Orange and Blue are now 15-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] addressed the media after the game, while [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag] and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] also chimed in.

Todd Golden’s opening statement

“Huge win. Huge win for us. I think we were fighting a little bit of human nature after Tuesday night – great win for us, and we were a little fatigued both emotionally and physically.

“I was a little worried about how we would be able to respond against a team that was awfully hungry and competitive. Early on, obviously we struggled a little bit, but our guys were pretty resilient. I thought we fought. We weren’t perfect, but we competed well enough to win.

“We rebounded when we needed to. I thought we did a great job protecting the rim, which was a huge part of our scout today and stepped up and knocked down some big shots. Alijah (Martin) hit that big three in the second half, then Condo’s (Alex Condon) pop-three, in my opinion, iced the game. I think that was 1:23 left to get us up 12.

“We had multiple really good efforts. One guy I want to highlight is Sam Alexis. I thought he stepped up remarkably tonight, gave us great minutes off the bench to give us six (points) and seven (rebounds) and play a really solid game was huge for us.”

Golden’s halftime message

“We didn’t handle their pressure very well, but I thought we left some points out there behind the 3-point line. We were 3-for-16 in the first half from three. I thought we got some really good looks that we didn’t knock down. As we talked at half, again, it was, “Continue to take care of the ball.”

“We had two swing plays – pick-sixes that led to layups for them. But we thought if we just stayed the course that we’d be all right, and we stepped up and obviously scored 43 in the second half, so we were much better that way.”

Golden on Sam Alexis stepping up, feeling good

“As he should. We talked about if we’re going to reach our goals of being an elite team and playing deep into March, we need different guys to step up on different nights. He had an extended opportunity tonight with all the foul trouble we were playing through.

“To his credit, there was no drop-off when he was in the game. This was the first time where we’ve played a really good opponent in a big game where I thought he looked like he felt comfortable. He did everything we asked him to do. I thought he was super aggressive getting 50-50 rebounds. I thought he did a great job initiating our offense out of the elbow.

“I told him after the game, if we continue to get him playing better and better, it’s obviously going to make us pretty tough.”

Condon on weathering a slow start

“We came out and started the game a bit slow. The energy we came out with in the second half, finding open guys and getting to the free throw line, it was a lot better in the second half than the first.”

Richard on playing in foul-plagued game

“You have to read the game, see how refs are calling it, then pick your spots. There were parts during the game they were calling stuff and parts of the game when they weren’t, so you just have to play smart.”

Next up for Florida

The Gators return home to host the Missouri Tigers on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Tipoff is slated for a late 9 p.m. ET start and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

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Andy Reid reveals Chiefs’ postseason strategy for left tackle position

See what #Chiefs HC Andy Reid said about Kansas City’s approach at the left tackle position heading into the playoffs. | @EdEastonJr

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke to reporters for a Zoom press conference on Friday. He provided insight into the ongoing debate on who will start at left tackle for the postseason.

“Listen, I thought D.J. (Humphries) did a pretty good job there,” said Reid. “(There are) a few plays that he’d probably like to have back, but he’s headed in the right direction, for sure. I haven’t made any decisions on that (or) which direction to go right this minute, so we’ll see. We’ll get there by the time we get to the end of next week there.”

Humphries returned to the Week 18 regular-season finale lineup after missing several weeks due to a hamstring injury. He could be in line for the starting role in next weekend’s Divisional Round as Reid further explained his options on the offensive line.

“Well, the best part is that they both (Joe Thuney and D.J. Humphries) are good players, and (Mike) Caliendo’s playing well, too, so I’m not too worried about that whole situation,” Reid explained. “We’ll just see how it plays out. (Offensive Line Coach) Andy (Heck) rotates them during the week anyway, so they’ll all get work, and we’ll just go from there. Obviously, you want the best combination, but I think in this case, you’ve got three guys there that are pretty good players.”

Joe Thuney was recently named first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press and has been playing well since moving to left tackle. Reid will have a week to make the tough call before the postseason.

Aberdeen, Condon, Martin talk Florida’s upset win over No. 1 Tennessee

Florida’s explosive win over Tennessee featured an unlikely hero in Denzel Aberdeen, who spoke to media after the game with Alijah Martin and Alex Condon.

Florida guards [autotag]Denzel Aberdeen[/autotag] and [autotag]Alijah Martin[/autotag] joined forward [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag] in front of the media after the Gators, 73-43, win over the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers.

Martin led all scorers with 18 points, followed by Aberdeen with 16 over 20 minutes off the bench and Condon who notched his third double-double of the season with a 12-and-12 performance.

Head coach Todd Golden also spoke to the media after this win. Check this Gators Wire story for a transcript of his post-game comments. Here’s what the players had to say.

On dominant, physical performance

Martin: We just wanted to take home court. Big shout out to the fans, the students. The place was rocking tonight. It definitely was something fun to play in and credit to everybody that prepared the preparation for Tennessee. We followed it to the tee. We trusted it and we secured it.

On physicality vs. a No. 1 overall

Condon: It was a great win. I think we just brought the physicality tonight, like coach was saying. They’re a very physical team, and the refs let it go tonight. So, I think that was the key part for us to win tonight.

Aberdeen: It was very important (to impose Florida’s style). Coach Golden was saying that this team is very physical rebounding. We got to come and bang and we can’t let them get easy looks … Credit to our bigs, who are very physical getting rebounds, like you said earlier, and the guards, credit as well for coming in and helping the bigs out and rebounding.

We knew they were physical. We knew the refs were going to let things go sometimes. We just had to not look for foul calls and just go to the rim aggressively on offense and just try to finish everything.

On defending Chaz Lanier

Martin: We just kind of stay in him, you know? We didn’t want to give him no breathing room. He’s an unbelievable talent, an unbelievable shooter. He don’t need no space, and then that was the whole game plan. Just don’t give him no space. Don’t give him nothing easy.

On responding defensively to the Kentucky loss

Aberdeen: We knew, coming from the Kentucky game, we had to pick our defense up, especially because they had another great shooter, Chaz. So we knew, coming into this game, we had to stop letting the 3s come up easily, and luckily they missed a lot of wide-open 3s.

We still stuck together and talked through it, and we fought through screens because they were setting a lot of down screens and stuff, pindowns. Coming out of halftime, we just talked about our defensive game plan and what we need to do better.

Martn: Kentucky had a great offense, just like we do. We knew that was going to be a high-scoring game, but tonight we just was more intentional. We were more locked in to the scout. I just seen something different in everybody’s eye during the scout. Going through player tendencies and stuff like that, everybody seemed locked in. If we can do that all year, we’ll be great.

Denzel Aberdeen on scoring night

Aberdeen: Credit to the bigs again because they got offensive rebounds, which led to close-outs. I just read the defense, what the defense was giving me, and coach Golden said, go and attack the rim off two feet, play off two feet and be strong, so I guess that’s what I did today.

The bigs had a great dunk game and was providing easy layups for me. And my shots too, guards, Alijah, Walt, Will finding me in the right spots and just me being ready to shoot.

On scoring with Clayton in foul trouble

Condon: Yeah, I think Zel provides a great scoring presence. Coming off the bench, it doesn’t … take a dip when Walt checks out of the game. The guards are so good at finding the bigs and playing together.

We basically said coming out of halftime, we let UNC come back into it a little bit, and we weren’t happy with our second-half defensive performance against Kentucky, too. So, yeah, just ensuring that we kept, the foot on the gas in the second half was a big emphasis for us.

Aberdeen: That just what (kind of) overall team we have. If Walt’s down, I know Condo and them is going to pick it up. If Condo was down, A-Mart and Will was going to pick it up. We just got a great overall team from guards to bigs, so I know each game we’re going to pick each other up. We just going to back up each other. If one goes down, we going to pick it up.

On playing with Rueben Chinyelu

Condon: When we both crash, you know it’s hard to stop both of us. Rube’s a very physical dude, and I like passing him the ball because he usually finishes off for me.

On overall rebound success

Martin: We got hits. Yeah, we got hits. Nobody ran, had a free lane to the rim. We hit everybody and we came up with it.

On confidence playing at home

Martin: Super confident.

Aberdeen: Very confident.

Martin: It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be hard to beat us here. This is our house.

You guys are winning by an average of 30 points at home this year

Martin: Shh-h-h—… That’s all I can say. Shhhhh.

Condon: We’re going to protect the home court. I think we take pride together in not letting people come in and not be out physical on us and just take it to them from the start of the game. So, yeah, that’s that’s an emphasis for us.

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Todd Golden breaks down Florida’s 30-point win over No. 1 Tennessee

Florida men’s basketball head coach Todd Golden broke down the Gators’ historic 30-point win over No. 1 Tennessee on Tuesday night.

Florida men’s basketball head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] secured his first signature win with the Gators on Tuesday night, taking down the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers by 30 points in the O’Connell Center.

The win comes after Florida’s 13-game win streak was snapped over the weekend despite scoring 100 points against a good Kentucky team. Even at home, Florida was only a slight favorite to upset the final unbeaten in the sport.

Golden’s crew lost the shootout in Lexington but proved that the defensive stepback was just a bad night holding the Volunteers to 43 In Gainesville. [autotag]Alijah Martin[/autotag] and [autotag]Denzel Aberdeen[/autotag] combined for points, [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag] posted a double-double (12, 12) and [autotag]Rueben Chinyelu[/autotag] dominated the boards.

Golden spoke about the win, those three players and more after the win. Here’s everything he said.

Opening statement

“A great performance by our players tonight. I thought they did a wonderful job executing our game plan from start to finish. Talking to (the media) earlier this week, I thought we played with great toughness physically at Kentucky on Saturday, but our mental toughness wasn’t where it needed to be to win that game on the road. I thought tonight we played with great mental and physical toughness for 40 minutes, top to bottom.

“I thought all eight guys that played answered the bell. We obviously guarded incredibly well tonight. I thought we were great on the glass and we took care of the ball well enough. This is a great result for us, and hopefully this kind of continues to catapult us through the rest of the season.”

On Denzel Aberdeen

“‘Zel’s super important to us. Obviously, he doesn’t start, but he’s the only other perimeter that’s getting consistent minutes, and when he plays well, we’re really, really good. I thought he did some good things last Saturday, but some things that we need more from him, and tonight we got more from him.

“He had 16 in 20 minutes. I thought he did a good job defensively, and just had some really big moments that allowed us to continue to build the lead. But as he continues to come of age, if we can continue to get consistent performances from him this way, we’re going to be really tough.”

On program-first win over No. 1

“We have incredible respect for Tennessee and the program that Coach (Rick) Barnes built there. We knew this was going to be a really challenging game for us, but we also do believe we’re getting to that point where we expect to win these types of games.

“It’s hard to say when you host the No. 1 team in the country that you expect to win, but I think our program did going into this game tonight. We had good prep. I thought we had really good mentality, had a good shoot-around today, and our guys, they were just ready for it. You can sense it if guys are nervous or if they’re not preparing the right way, and I thought we were really locked in and I thought our performance showed that.”

On playing at O’Connell Center in Gainesville

“It’s an incredible homecourt advantage. I think our fans have been fantastic supporting us. As amazing as it was tonight, when you sell out a game like Stetson a couple of weeks ago on a weekend of a break with no students around on a Sunday, I was like, man, like, alright, these fans really have our back. They’ve done a great job supporting us all year, and we knew what tonight was going to be.

“We drove up for shootaround. I think I got to the O’Dome at like 12:30, and the line was already around the block with people waiting to get into the gym. We knew it was going to be a great atmosphere tonight, and we knew we’re going to get a lift from the crowd. Obviously, after Year 1, specifically last year and this year, this has become a great home-court advantage for us and one of the best in America.”

On defensive and mental preparedness of team

“It’s probably the best (in my three years), right? We were dominant tonight from start to finish. We really didn’t have many lapses. They went on one 7-0 run with four minutes to go in the second half. Other than that, I thought we did a good job of not allowing things to ever get away from us like it did on Saturday at times. But it was just a super-complete performance.”

On 30-point margin of victory

“I wouldn’t say stunning. I would say I’m really pleased with the way we took advantage of our opportunities tonight. No, I didn’t expect us to win by 30. I didn’t.

“We stressed it. We really did. We talked about it a ton. Tennessee, they’re one of the best programs in America. We know that. They’re consistently at the top of our league, and Coach Barnes has established their culture so well where every guy that steps on the court for them is tough. They play to win. They’re unselfish. They’re an incredibly well-put-together program that way.

“When we talk to our guys leading up to this game, it’s like, ‘Listen’ — can’t remember, Saturday, Sunday, so I guess it would have been yesterday — a guy was complaining about fouls, and I just snapped in practiced. I’m like, ‘Yo, we’re not getting these calls tomorrow night, alright? We can’t expect to have the refs call certain things. It’s going to be a war. It’s going to be an absolute war playing these guys.’

“Again, I thought our guys met the match with that fight. There were not many possessions in that game where I felt like we were not the tougher team. I thought our guys did a great job of sustaining that for 40 minutes.”

On 3-point defense turnaround

“Flip the coin, man. Honestly, we gave up some good looks tonight. We did. Lanier had a couple early, but the intensity and the physicality. They were good looks, but they might not have been in great rhythm, and we just kind of got that thing snowballing tonight. That’s the volatility of the 3-point shot.

“That’s why when I talk to you guys, to me, what good 3-point defense is with a guy like Lanier or Koby Brea, you just got to limit their attempts because once that ball is in the air, there’s nothing you can do about it. We got bailed out a couple of times with them missing some good looks tonight. They did not let us off the hook on Saturday.

“Sometimes, from the 3-point line, it finds a way to even itself out, and tonight we were on the better end of some of the 3-point luck that we weren’t on Saturday. But again, I thought we set the tone really well with our defense and we obviously guarded the two really well also. It looks like they were 8-for-27 from two, which is really dang good. I’m really proud of that as well.”

On in-practice focus on 3-point defense

“We talk about it a lot. They were gunning early. I think five of the first seven shots were from 3, which I didn’t necessarily expect, but 29 is probably too many attempts, to be honest. But they weren’t in a great rhythm either. I think they probably missed some that they would normally make. Just the flow of the game kind of allowed us to take advantage of that.”

On Rueben Chinyelu’s 15 rebounds

“He’s a beast, man. He’s an absolute physical beast and I thought he did a great job on Saturday with his offensive rebounds and his putbacks.

“It’s disheartening for your opponent when you play a good defensive possession and he just skies over everybody, grabs it, outlet, now we’re out running, putting pressure on you in transition. Rueben is a guy who doesn’t get a lot of credit because he doesn’t score a lot on most nights, but he’s done a great job over the course of the year of continuing to find more ways to impact winning in games.

“We knew once we got to SEC play and we saw more consistently big lineups, he would be able to help us and I thought he did a great job tonight.”

On Will Richard

“Will has become such a winning player. When we first got him, he was young – a sophomore. We were like, alright, if he’s making 3s he can really blow the cover off the game, but if not, how is he impacting? Well, now at this point in his career, he’s become a much better defender.

“He’s a really, really good defender. Someone you can put on a shooter and he has the mental toughness to stick with them. He’s gotten so much better at fighting through screens. He’s rebounding better. He had three offensive rebounds tonight. His floor game has gotten better. He’s what you hope to see when a guy goes through your program, consistently getting better and finding ways to become more of a winner.

“But with those three seniors in the backcourt, you’re gonna feel really good with those guys out there most nights. They give you a lot of confidence as a coach.”

On Alijah Martin’s competitive impact

“Yes, he is (a winner). I think he’s been as important as anybody to our success. Just the mentality that he came in here with really raised the maturity level of our team.

“The great thing about Alijah is that he’s won at a high level before. He played in a Final Four, so as soon as he stepped into our locker room, he commanded a lot of respect from his teammates because he was the only guy in the locker room that had really won at that high level.

“I give him a lot of credit because he’s been super consistent. He’s wanted the challenge defensively, and he’s definitely raised the bar for his teammates in terms of the type of effort that they give on a nightly basis on the defensive end.”

On holding Chaz Lanier to 10 points

“He did miss some early that were decent looks, but I thought we just did a great job of staying in his hip pocket and not letting them get any super-clean looks to where he got comfortable.

“Our goal was to try to make him operate in the mid-range and make him make tough 2s over us. He made a couple, but just 3 for 16; we did a good job on him. We made most of his 3s tough as well. But with him having an inefficient night like that, it gave us the opportunity to win the way we did.”

On limiting Zakai Zeigler to one assist

“That was a huge part of it. I thought our ball-screen coverage was much better than it was on Saturday. I thought our bigs did a great job getting the level of the screen. Martin, Denzel when they were on him did a good job of keeping them on a side, and then getting back in front so our big could release.

“They’re so good at getting those lobs at the rim. If you watch the game when they played Arkansas last week, Zeigler would do a good job getting in the paint and anytime the big helped up at all. It was just up at the rim and Okpara was smashing it or Phillips was smashing it.

“We did a great job of keeping him out of the paint and allowing our bigs to get back to the body of Okpaara. They try to throw a couple of those lobs, and they ended up in turnovers, and those were big plays for us.”

On the most lopsided win against No. 1 since 1968 UCLA beat Houston

“That is (some crazy history). This was a great game for us, obviously. I’m incredibly proud of our players and our staff, because we prepared really well for this game, and I thought our guys did everything that we asked them to do, and then some, and they were the reason why we got this result.

“Like I said, I’m incredibly proud, but now our biggest thing is this can’t be the highlight of our season. It’s awesome in the moment, and we’re gonna enjoy it tonight, our guys are off tomorrow. But it certainly won’t feel as good if we don’t go and find a way to win in Fayetteville on Saturday.

“So, we’ll enjoy it tonight. We’ll start prepping for Arkansas tomorrow, and we got to find a way to get to 2-1 in this league — because any road win in this league is going to feel like gold.”

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Golden, Clayton and Martin discuss Florida’s first loss at Kentucky

Here’s what Todd Golden, Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin had to say about Florida’s first loss of the season, coming at Kentucky.

All good things must come to an end, as they say, and that nugget of truth applied to Florida basketball’s 13-game winning streak to start the 2024-25 campaign. In a hard-fought battle in hostile territory, the Gators fell to the Kentucky Wildcats, 106-100, in the Southeastern Conference schedule opener inside Rupp Arena.

[autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] had his team hitting on all cylinders out of the gate, stretching out an 11-point lead with 11:13 remaining in the first half. However, a 16-0 run by the ‘Cats spearheaded a strong finish that put Kentucky up by 10 by the time the halftime horn rang.

Florida fought back in the second half, but alas, [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag].’s game-leading 33 points were not enough to overcome the home team’s three-point-fueled barrage. He, along with Golden and fellow guard [autotag]Alijah Martin[/autotag] shared a few words with the media after the game.

Golden’s opening statement

“First of all, good game. Credit to Kentucky, I thought every time we made a run and had a little momentum, I thought they stepped up and made some big-time winning plays, big shots, and just kept us at bay in those moments. I was proud of my guys; I thought we battled pretty hard.

“Obviously, we guarded poorly today, but we did some other really good things, obviously dominating the glass and being really physical, getting to the line 35 times, scoring 100 points. Again, some good things for us to take out of this game, but going on the road in SEC play, we’ve got to find a way to defend better.”

On Kentucky’s 3-point success

“It’s interesting because going into it, the way we were looking at it with guarding the line, we thought if we did a good job with Koby (Brea) and Jaxson (Robinson) that we’d be in good shape, and we just didn’t. I thought Koby did a great job taking advantage of his opportunities.

“There were times where we were staying in his space, but it felt like every time we gave him a little bit of room he was able to separate and knock it down. He didn’t let us off the hook at all today. He banged seven of them, and Jaxson only made two but he made some big ones.

“We did two things really poorly: We didn’t guard the three – gave up 42 points behind the line – and we gave up 44 in the paint. You can’t come in here and expect to win guarding that way. The hope is, obviously Kentucky’s a very good offensive team and you’re not going to be able to take away everything, but you can’t let them get you from all angles.

“If we get a crack at them at the conference tournament, we’re going to have to figure out a way to take away at least the rim twos or their catch-and-shoot threes for the shooters, and we’ll address that if we get another opportunity down the road.”

Florida’s response to Kentucky’s runs

“I thought we were good. This is a top-10 team on the road for us coming in here. I did a poor job in the first half, probably should’ve used a timeout earlier during that run. We had Walt(er) on the bench at that time, and we were just a little out of sorts. But we were pretty resilient.

“We did a good job, being down 10 at halftime, cutting into the lead pretty quickly. I think we got it to a one-possession game there in the middle part of the second half, and then late I think we were down four at the last media [timeout] and maybe cut it to two.

“Again, to Kentucky’s credit, every time we were within striking distance, they made big shots. That (Andrew) Carr three was huge. I think that was probably the cherry on top for them and iced it. But I thought our guys were pretty resilient. I thought we stayed the course and, process-wise, besides the defensive end I thought we were pretty good.”

Clayton on Florida’s overall performance

“Bad defense. It’s tough when you put up a hundred and allow the other team to put a hundred and (six). When you do that, you’re doing something wrong defensively. Coaches gave us a game plan that we didn’t execute as players.”

Martin on team’s defensive performance

“Just let them get whatever they wanted. We didn’t take anything away from them. That’s what coach told us and it’s true. We let them be comfortable. We let them do what they do. We let their shooters shoot. I think we beat ourselves.

“We’re a much better defensive team and we didn’t display it today. We have a quick turnaround to play Tennessee, we’ll have to worry about that right now.”

Next up for Florida

The Gators welcome the Tennessee Volunteers to the O’Connell Center on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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