Todd Golden identifies how Florida must improve in clutch situations

Three of Florida’s four losses on the season have come by four points or less. That’s why, moving forward, Todd Golden realizes that the Gators have to get better when playing in the clutch.

Golden evaluated his team’s performance late after missing a prime opportunity with an 87-85 loss to No. 6 Kentucky in Gainesville this weekend. In assessing that loss specifically, he felt like their defense wasn’t where it needed to be, even though 14 of the Wildcats’ points came from the charity stripe off of 13 fouls.

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting stops,” said Golden. “They scored a lot in the second half. A lot of that was due to the fact that we were fouling late and giving them some free points that way.”

However, overall, Golden wants the Gators to not feel so much pressure in those final minutes, especially in close contests. He needs them to play them more like the rest of the other minutes where they’ve found more success.

“For me, down the stretch? It’s got to be like the rest of the 40 minutes,” Golden said. “You’ve got to be able to take care of the ball. You’ve got to get shots, you’ve got to get on the glass. Your first-shot defense has got to be great.”

Again, of the four defeats for Florida through 14 games, three have come by a combined nine points. All three were against a trio of teams that have spent time in the Top-25, even the Top-10, this season. In each of the three losses, the Gators held a lead of at least seven points at some point.

The other loss, an 11-point margin at Wake Forest in the ACC/SEC Challenge, came against a Demon Deacons squad that is also quality at 11-3 on the season. In Winston-Salem, the Gators were up by nine in the second half before collapsing in the final 15 minutes.

Saturday’s loss in their conference opener was especially brutal. Inside the O’Connell Center, Florida led by as much as 11 over Kentucky. In the second half, their lead was by as much as six to eight against UK in their first true road environment. Still, after making several pushes, the Wildcats got over the top in the final three minutes.

At 10-4, Florida is still a very good team. That’s especially so considering how acceptable their losses look based on opponent and margin. Still, if they can just clean up their execution late in games, Golden has no doubt that they can be even better as they continue on.

“We’ll go back and look at it all and see different areas that we can improve – for sure,” Golden said.