‘Clash of styles’: Todd Golden previews top-25 matchup at South Carolina

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida visits South Carolina for a top-25 showdown, which marks UF’s fourth ranked opponent in four weeks. The No. 24 Gators (20-8, 10-5 SEC) have won nine of their last 11 games.

The 18th-ranked Gamecocks (23-5, 11-4 SEC) have the third best record in the conference. Tip is at 12 p.m. on ESPN.

“I feel like Saturday is gonna be a little bit of a clash of styles,” UF coach Todd Golden said of the game with South Carolina. “And if we can do a good job pushing tempo and keeping pace up, I think that would benefit us. If we get stuck in halfcourt in a grind-it-out game, I think that’s going to benefit them. But it’s a big game at this point of the year.”

Here’s everything Golden said Friday about the matchup in Columbia, keys to a victory and more.

Todd Golden Q&A

On another Quad 1 opportunity to build resumé:

Golden: “I think it’s a great opportunity for a number of reasons. Obviously, No. 1 it’s just a great game. It’s a different style than we’ve seen lately. They’re super physical, more of a halfcourt team. They’re different personnel and different stylistically than Mississippi State, but that similar kind of physical mentality. And so, I think going on the road and playing in a really good environment will be beneficial for us, two ranked teams, as you say, a Quad 1 opportunity. Then on top of that a really great opportunity for seeding in SEC Tournament. We’re jockeying for one of those spots, and obviously, whoever gets this game done I believe will kind of have the inside track against the other team in terms of finishing above them. So, it’s a great game this time of year. Not much you can lose by going out there, but you can win a lot you, can gain a lot. So, we’re excited to get out there.”

On how Florida has done against physical teams:

Golden: “I feel like we’ve done OK. The Mississippi State game it took us a couple of minutes to get our legs under us, but then I thought we played great the rest of the way. And I think this team, again, I gotta give them credit, I think South Carolina they’re incredibly physical at all five spots. It’s not just the front court, it’s the guards. They’re all really, really tough and they’re really together as a team and it’ll be a good challenge to have to face them.”

On both teams being in the Top 25 and still alive in the SEC race:

Golden: “Absolutely. And obviously it’s for us a pretty nice accomplishment in Year 2 to still be in the mix. Obviously, it’s a long shot to win the league, but to have a chance with three games left it says a lot about our season so far. But we’re kind of focusing on and kind of gunning for right now is one of those top four seats, to get to the double bye of the SEC tournament, so we would have to play until Friday. There’s a lot that can happen between now and there’s a lot of different ways that it could shake out dependent upon how these games go. So, again, I just point to tomorrow being one of those opportunities where if we get it done, we’re gonna put ourselves in a really good spot down the stretch.”

On what he will learn about his team in a road game like this:

Golden: “We’ve played a lot better on the road lately than earlier in SEC play. We weren’t as good early on. Obviously, we played poorly at Mississippi. I thought we did a better job, but didn’t have a great result at Tennessee, and then kind of incrementally from the Missouri game on we’ve played a lot better. At Kentucky was a great result for us, and then we had big-time leads at A&M and Bama. So, we played well. I think this game is going to be an equal challenge to those. And obviously it would be great if we can obtain a lead like we had and then finish it, like we had not been able to in the last two. But it’s going to be a great environment and just another challenge to prepare us for postseason play.”

On Florida’s keys to success against South Carolina:

Golden: “Pretty standard, man. I think we got to take care of the ball, we got to be super tough physically. I think that’s going to be the recurring theme in terms of what we’re talking about with our guys. Gotta defend, make sure we limit they’re good 3-point attempts. They have really good low post score in BJ Mack and Murray Boyles, so those guys are going to be a lot to handle on the block. We got to do a good job there. And then offensively, we got to fight for the good shots. They’re not super complicated what they do defensively, but they’re good. So they’re pretty standard. We just got to make sure we’re tough and get to our spots and make sure we don’t allow their physicality to dictate what we do offensively.”

On a similar rebuild at USC with B.J. Mack and Ta’lon Cooper:

Golden: “It is similar in the sense that they got some really good transfers. And then the biggest key for them to really have taken off is how well (Collin) Murray-Boyles is playing. He’s a freshman, but he’s a fantastic player and he’s done really, really well for them. And he gives him a lot of physicality. A great left-handed post finisher and a guy that plays beyond his years, similar to how you know Condo and Tommy play for us I believe. Obviously, they have Meechie (Johnson) back. They have Zach Davis back. They have some continuity as well with some of their role players. Josh Gray has had a really good year. Lamont and his staff did a really good job kind of adding the right pieces and then also growing guys within his program.”

On importance of getting a bye in the SEC tournament:

Golden: “Absolutely. And even more so than that, it’s just getting better today and focusing on this game tomorrow. Because if we don’t want to win the one tomorrow, we can’t win our next three. So, we’re doing everything we can to just take it one day at a time and just making sure our concentration level is where it needs to be, our mentality is where it needs to be and then going in to tomorrow doing everything we can to find a way to win the game.”

On the team’s growth and focus on getting better:

Golden: “I think we’ve gotten better that way. I think we’ve done a much better job over the last 11 games that way. A big part of that, I still believe, is the fact that it took us a little bit to get healthy and get everybody on the same page for continuity sake. Once we kind of got there and guys settled into roles, we kind of took off. It doesn’t change. It’s kind of boring to say, but it’s that consistency that’s made us better.”

On being in the running for SEC coach of the year:

Golden: “Obviously, personal accomplishments are great, but I’d much rather get a double bye or win the league. It comes and goes. It’s nice to be honored personally, but it’s not something that honestly I’m thinking about at all going into the last couple games. If we win, everything will take care of itself.”

On what has surprised him the most about his team so far:

Golden: “Just the way that we’ve been consistent over the last month and a half. We really haven’t — knock on wood — had any bad efforts. We haven’t won all the games, but we played pretty well and pretty consistent. And just the way our guys have come together. We thought we’d be better this year. But just adding five or six new guys, transfers, and bringing our young guys in. We thought it’d be better, but we didn’t know how quickly it would click, and the fact that it has at this point, we’re really pleased with that. But I think just that consistency in the fact that obviously we got 20 wins with three to go, that’s a little bit of a surprise.”

On what has to be better to take the next step:

Golden: “Just guarding and being more consistent on the defensive end. Having better second halves defensively. Little better rim defense would be great. I think that’s kind of the one thing we’ve been inconsistent on. We’ve gotten back to rebounding. The other night we had a good rebounding game. We’ve been really good taking care of the ball, but second half defense is something I point to for being key for us taking the next step.”

On the team’s chemistry:

Golden: “First of all we have great guys. I think that’s where it starts. When you get along you play better. I think that’s something that can’t be taken lightly. We have a mature group. We’ve got guys that are focused. We’ve got guys that have good attitudes that want to be here and enjoy the success of their teammates. Credit to my staff and our group for putting this group together, but they – our guys – had to go out and do it and they’ve been able to all year.”

On if that’s something he recruits:

Golden: “It’s definitely something we recruit, something we think about – culture, attitude, mentality, all important things that we’re evaluating. You’re not always going to get it perfect. You’re not always going to get it right. The fact that we’ve hit the way we did and these guys have kind of taken it up a notch that way is a great thing for us.”

On what has been the surprise about Zyon Pullin:

Golden: “I think the one area that he’s kind of been above is his 3-point shooting, especially in league play. He always shot a decent percentage, but he never took a lot of attempts. Now he’s making about one-and-a-half a game in the league at a high percentage and his floor game is just something that gives you a lot of confidence and comfort in the sidelines. Guards hard, leads, does a good job of never getting too high and too low. I feel like he does a good job of getting those guys involved, too.”

On what made him think Pullin could play in the SEC:

Golden: “Just being in Riverside’s program I thought he would have a really good understanding of what we do. I watched him a lot over the years and saw him have really good games against really good teams and he didn’t have much help out there, which is hard to do. Just knew that he was a really good guy. I thought he would come in here and take on the challenge of playing at an SEC program and playing at this level. The reality is he’s having a really good year and even more efficient than he was last year. Happy for him and the success he’s had.”