Todd Golden shares thoughts on Kentucky not fouling at end of regulation

On Wednesday night, Todd Golden’s Florida squad came up with a huge victory, taking down No. 10 Kentucky on the road at Rupp Arena in an overtime classic.

The Gators improbably tied the game up with five seconds remaining in regulation on a Walter Clayton Jr. 3-pointer. The Wildcats chose not to foul, and Golden’s squad made them pay for it when it was all said and done, as Florida made it hurt in overtime.

Afterwards, the Gators leader spoke on his thoughts as he watched Kentucky let the final seconds play out, explaining that the fact that the Wildcats could foul to prevent a three-point-shot attempt didn’t go through his mind.

“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about it a whole lot, during the heat of the moment. Looking back on it, it would’ve been an opportunity, probably. But you know, there’s honestly, analytically, there’s 50/50 whether you foul or not, and my thing is, we try to be consistent in those opportunities,” Golden stated, following Florida’s win. “They played it out. Reed’s a really good help defender. Takes some chances. He’s just blocked one shot in the corner a couple of minutes before, showing an ability to close out in a rotation, and Walt was just really poised, being able to put that ball in the basket.”

In the end, the win gave Florida its first Quadrant 1 win of the season, a huge deal if the program hopes to make it to the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s a heck of a win for us,” Golden added. “We’ve been knocking on the door for a win like this in our opportunities. To be honest, I thought our win at Mississippi State at home last weekend was a big win for us because they’ve been playing really well, had just beat Tennessee and then another really good team at home, Auburn. So huge win for us.

“And again, this team that we have, we only have two guys that really played last year, it was Riley (Kugel) and Will (Richard). Brand new group. We have some veterans mixed with some young guys, but this team is really coming together at the right time.”

With the win, Florida improved to 15-6 on the season and 5-3 in conference play. The Gators began SEC play 0-2 but have since won five of the last six games. Perhaps it’ll serve as a jumping-off-point for the Gators and Todd Golden to make a run here towards the NCAA Tournament.

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this article.