Todd Golden thrilled with Florida's response after slow start in SEC Tournament game vs. Alabama

Alabama came out of the gates on fire against Florida, opening up an 8-0 lead in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal. But the Gators quickly settled in and then went to work.

By the time halftime rolled around, Florida boasted a 48-33 lead. The team closed the half on an extended 21-2 run.

“I didn’t necessarily love the eight-point lead we spotted them but we knew they were going to come out fresh and come out ready to go,” Florida coach Todd Golden told the SEC Network’s Alyssa Lang at halftime. “But I thought we did a great job kind of maintaining our composure. Then once we got comfortable we really started playing well, obviously outscored them by 23 after that eight-point lead.”

Florida got an extremely well-rounded effort in the first half, with eight different players hitting the score sheet.

But it was a pair of big men who seemed to turn the tide for the Gators with their hustle and work on the boards: freshmen Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh. The duo combined to score 10 points and pull down 10 boards, helping even in transition offense.

Florida’s bench outscored Alabama’s 14-3 in the first half of the SEC Tournament quarterfinal, while the Gators took a 22-18 edge in rebounding. Points in the paint were tied at 24 apiece after the first 20 minutes.

The scoring charge by Florida was led by its pair of fantastic guards, the highest-scoring backcourt duo for the Gators since Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh back in 2003-04.

Point guard Zyon Pullin scored 11 while dishing out three assists, while shooting guard Walter Clayton Jr. scored 12 points and dished out two assists.

Still, despite the big lead at halftime, Florida will have work to do in the second half.

“Just got to stay the course. Obviously we realize the way we played over the last 16 minutes is going to work if we can sustain that,” Golden said. “Got to limit their 3-point attempts, got to keep taking care of the ball and keep them off the glass, but if we do that we’ll be in good shape.”

Florida held Alabama leading scorer Mark Sears to just four points in the first half, while the Crimson Tide finished just 3-of-12 from 3-point range in the contest.

The Gators won the second of two regular-season meetings with the Tide in fairly dominant fashion and so far on Friday night at the SEC Tournament, things resemble that game more closely than the earlier Alabama win.