Todd Golden credits veteran leadership for Florida vs. Missouri

Florida didn’t have its best game against Missouri but still managed to get a win. According to head coach Todd Golden, it’s the team’s veteran leadership that deserves the credit for the win.

In particular, Golden praised the play of Tyrese Samuel and Zyon Pullin following the game, admitting that he asked them to take on a large role as the pair dominated the scoring late in the game.

“Again, they were just awesome,” Tod Golden said. “In tight moments, you want your experienced guys to step up and shoulder a little more than load.”

Samuel ended the game with 28 points in 32 minutes. He also had 10 rebounds on the game. Meanwhile, Pullin had 21 points in 37 minutes. Together, they accounted for 41 of Florida’s 83 points in the win.

“We did a good job putting Tyrese in the high post and getting him catches in the paint, where he’s just a great decision maker and a really good playmaker. Obviously his finishes, but he also had some really good passes out of there and good decisions,” Golden said.

“They stepped up and made big shots. We had that stretch. I think Will hit that big three in the corner to kind of get himself off the schneid and then ZP hit back-to-back, that kind of gave us some good momentum and some juice back. Then, down the stretch, we made 11 our last 13 field goals, we found a way in a second half where we weren’t at our best.”

With the win over Missouri, Florida moved to 10-5 in SEC play, which is good enough to put the Gators in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings with just three games remaining.

Joe Lunardi calls Florida ‘a very dangerous team’ come March

Florida is starting to earn attention, including from ESPN’s analyst Joe Lunardi who praised the direction of the team going into March.

“I think you could make the argument that that game at the end of the day might help their metrics more than this one simply given the site and the quality of the opponent,” Lunardi said.

“Before coming on I took a look at Florida and not even a full month ago they were a bubble team. Checked back even two or three weeks ago in the 10, 11 seed range. Now a seven, knocking on the door of a six.”