Todd Golden calls Florida's defensive rebounding 'horrendous'

On Wednesday night, Florida got a win over Ole Miss. However, there was an issue with the Gators’ performance that upset head coach Todd Golden–the team’s rebounding.

After the game, Golden went so far as to call Florida’s rebounding ‘horrendous.’

“We did a horrendous job early in the game, just keeping them off the glass,” Todd Golden said. “I thought they did a couple of things that were unique in terms of what they were doing, compared to other teams we’ve played. So, we have seen it. We weren’t ready to combat it.”

Despite losing by 15 points, Ole Miss managed to grab 16 offensive rebounds in the game. Golden is right, that’s a horrendous performance that easily could have cost Florida the game.

“But, I thought they had a little better effort on the glass. We held them to five in the second half, which was much better. But, again, moving forward, we’ve got to do a better job that way. But, we’ve been a good rim defense this year. We’ve been a good two-point defense and tonight was no different.

At 14-12 overall and 7-6 in the SEC, Florida needs to finish the regular season strong. That final five-game stretch starts on Saturday with a trip to Arkansas.

Todd Golden used the losing streak as motivation

According to Todd Golden, Florida’s three-game losing streak provided motivation and a sense of urgency for the Gators.

“We talked about that losing streak. Honestly, I was OK with the first two, going to Rupp, nothing to be ashamed of losing by five [to Kentucky] there. And Alabama‘s playing at a high level, we just didn’t have it that night. But that Vanderbilt loss hurt us. That was a game at home that we thought that we could control. Credit to them, they came out and shot it really, really well,” Golden said.

“For us today it was all about having great urgency, having great attention to detail. I thought our guys did a great job making shots tonight.”