Tad Boyle upset with Colorado's early defense vs. Florida in NCAA Tournament: 'I don't know if we've done anything well defensively'

In a first half that turned into a bit of a track meet between No. 7 seed Florida and No. 10 seed Colorado in the NCAA Tournament first round, Buffaloes head coach Tad Boyle was fired up about defense. Or rather, the lack thereof from his squad, in his eyes.

Speaking with TBS sideline reporter Andy Katz coming out of the under 8 timeout in the first half, Boyle laid into his teams lack of defensive mettle early on. And with the Gators averaging more than a point a possession as the teams rolled into the under 4 — despite Colorado taking a one-point lead — Boyle was likely still harping on defense with his squad.

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“I don’t know if we’ve done anything well defensively. They’re coming down, we have no sense of urgency on the defensive side of the ball. We really don’t,” Boyle said.

Boyle also pointed to specific lapses against the likes of Will Richard and Walter Clayton Jr.

“We’ve got, Richard got three for three 3s. We know he’s a shooter in the scouting report. I mean Clayton just gets in for another contested layup, we gotta get better defensively,” Boyle said.

Boyle’s counterpart wasn’t pleased with the early defense from his squad

Florida held a 24-18 lead over Colorado at the under 12 media timeout in the first half of an NCAA Tournament Round of 64 matchup. And despite the lead, Gators head coach Todd Golden harped on some lackluster interior defense allowing the Buffaloes to keep pace.

Golden noted in a brief interview with TBS sideline reporter Andy Katz that both starter Eddie Lampkin and backup Bangot Dak had been effective early against Florida’s defense. Golden quickly identified that as an issue needing to be addressed in the remainder of the half and beyond.

“Yeah we gotta do a better job keeping it out of the post. Obviously Lampkin had some success early, their backup big guy has four quick points on us. Gotta do a better job in the paint as we continue on in the first half,” Golden said.

However, and likely to Golden’s chagrin, Colorado went on run to bring the score within two before Florida responded and the teams went to the under 8 timeout with the Gators ahead, 30-26. Lampkin was up to six points as Bangot sat back down.