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.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
(@Flaujae) 
