Everything Todd Golden said about the Kentucky matchup, Vols win

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Following an upset over No. 2 Tennessee at home, the Gators hit the road Saturday to face another SEC rival in the Kentucky Wildcats.

Florida (13-9/6-3 SEC) has won six of its last seven conference games and Wednesday marked the sixth all-time victory over top-2 team in program history.

Prior to traveling to Lexington, Florida coach Todd Golden met the media to recap the win over the Vols and preview Saturday’s matchup with Kentucky (15-7/6-3 SEC).

On how many calls he got after beating Tennessee:

Todd Golden: “Yeah, quite a few people. I was trying to think if there was an anybody in particular. A lot of people reached out. Obviously grateful for it. Big moment for us, big game for us. The main thing for us, though — and I talked to our team about this yesterday – is we don’t want that to be the highlight of our season. It was a great moment for us and something we can truly build off of. If we’re looking back in May and we say, ‘What was the best thing about this year’s club?’ And it’s, ‘Oh, when they beat No. 2 Tennessee at home.’ That probably means we didn’t make the tournament or we didn’t have a good run at the end of the season. Awesome moment for us, something we feel like we can build off of. But at the same time, I don’t think we’re satisfied with where we’re at.” 

On whether he looks at UF’s tournament resume? 

Golden: “Yeah, I look at it every day. In terms of resume, that was a huge one for us. I think of our Mississippi State win as a great win, a Quad 1 on the road, but maybe not deemed a signature win for this team. But now, as we continue on with the year, as we get deeper toward March when that stuff becomes more important, you can’t say we haven’t beaten anybody. We beat the No. 2 team in the country – they were No. 1 in KenPom that night when we beat them – and we beat them by 13. I think it’s huge for us in a lot of different ways. Obviously our metrics across the board got lifted a ton because of it. Again, I feel like we’re back in a really good spot moving forward. We just got to make sure we keep going.” 

On whether he discusses it with his players or tries to shield them from it? 

Golden: “We don’t talk a lot about it with the team because we want to focus on the now and not worry too much about anything other than what’s in front of us. But as a staff we talk about a little bit.” 

On Riley Kugel saying he didn’t know much about it:

Golden: “Yeah, good. That’s how I want them to be.” 

On facing speedy Sahvir Wheeler:

Golden: “Good player. Obviously a key part of their deal and similar to (Zakai) Zeigler. Zeigler shoots it a little bit more than Wheeler. Wheeler is similar, like the head of the team that way when he’s on the floor. I don’t think it’s going to be anything too crazy. We just got to do a really good job of being aware of where he is and trying to keep him out of the paint. And on top of that not allow him to make plays for others, which I think is where he’s best.”

On Florida’s defensive rebounding:

Golden: “I don’t want to put ourselves in a spot where we have to have a lot of opportunities to guard on the second chance tomorrow night. But it’s gonna happen, you know, and how we how we combat that’s gonna be important. And again, it’s like finishing possessions is going to be a huge thing for us down the stretch you know, at times we’re a little undersized obviously rebounding hasn’t been huge strength of ours. I thought we did a great job last eight minutes of the game, though, fighting for fighting for those rebounds. I think we only give up one late on a bad 3-point miss. But it’s a huge part of this game and if we do a good job that way, we’re gonna give ourselves a chance. If we don’t, we won’t. So it’s going to be stressed and talked about a lot. And, you know, if our guys have the same mentality on the floor, I think we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

On whether he’s been to Rupp Arena:

Golden: “I have. Awesome environment. We went there my first year at Auburn and they got us pretty good, but this is why you want to coach in this league. For opportunities like this to go coach against Cal, coach against their team. They’re playing a lot better lately. You kind of look at how they’ve gone and obviously that South Carolina loss at home was kind of a wake-up call for them. And to their credit, they’ve they’ve really picked it up since then. They’re playing like a Top 10, Top 15 teams since then, and they looked like they figured some stuff out. So, maybe wish we would have gone a little earlier in the conference schedule, but at the same time, if we beat them it’ll be another awesome win for us. So it’s a great opportunity.”

On what it takes to close out games:

Golden: “Honestly, I don’t know if it’s as much about closing out as much as how we played over the course of the whole games. You look at the Tennessee game, we didn’t have to you know, it wasn’t a one-possession game late, you know, we won that thing but 13. So we didn’t have to execute in the final 20 seconds and anything like that, Mississippi State was the one we got that was really kind of a 50-50 game down the stretch and we had fallen short in those other ones. And I’ve said this before, when you’re tight in those of the games, there’s only so much you can do and a lot of it depends on whether you make or miss shots down the stretch. And I really like the way we’re winning these games, you know, in terms of it not being in one possession at the end of the game. And so I feel like our team has gotten better across the board. Obviously since league play started I feel like our guys are a lot more comfortable in their roles. Obviously Kyle, MJ, Colin they’re all playing better you know and and doing a really good job that way. It’s really to a man. I single those guys, Kyle and MJ specifically, because they played really well. Wacie, Trey, Jason have given us good minutes. Everybody that’s playing. Alex Fudge has been great prior to the to the head injury and he’s done a great job kind of fighting back and getting out there for us because we need him. Everybody that is going out there has given us something and I think that’s really important to to why we become a much more complete team.”

On the Castleton vs. Tshiebwe matchup:  

 “It’s going to be awesome. In my opinion it’s what has made college basketball pretty awesome this year. You have two guys that maybe five years ago would have gone pro and you don’t hear from them again and now they came back. I think it’s great for the fans, with the continuity of the rosters and for them to be able to see Castleton come back or Oscar come back and recognize them. These guys are really good players, they are two of the best frontcourt players in the country, playing in a big-time game. I assume a lot of people will watch this game and see what they can do. Looking back on what happened last year, and we kind of messed with Colin about it yesterday, Colin had a great game against Oscar but Oscar had a great game against Colin also. So, we’re going to need a little better defense tomorrow night. But yeah, it’s going to be a great environment, pretty excited to go out there and compete against those guys.” 

On how satisfying the press break was at the end of the game:

“It was awesome. Just the unselfishness, the confidence, the ball popping around. We didn’t take a dribble. All five guys touched it, I thought it was an and-one, didn’t get the call but just an awesome play. I think we were up eight. I think that one took us from 8 to 10, whatever that was. Just the finish. Just not holding it, letting yourself get fouled, just moving the ball, taking advantage of them being the backcourt, taking advantage of the numbers, it was a confident way to end the game, that was what I was really excited to see and it was a really cool moment for us.” 

On whether his take down during the locker room celebration was a block or charge: 

Golden: “The locker room, it was definitely a charge, a lot of contact. It was Shimmy (Aleks Symczyk) not Colin, and Shimmy’s a big boy. But I was appreciative of everybody rushed over there to get me off the ground. They liked the way I took it but we were pleased it got us an extra possession in the locker room after the game.”

On whether he has to work around the rebounding deficiencies:

Golden: “We talk about it a lot so it’s stuff we’re definitely cognizant of and aware of and again I think it’s part of why we’ve been able to have a decent second-chance defense because we know, alright, if we don’t get it we’ve got to what we call get tighter, finish the possession an another way. But not a lot of solutions in life, a lot of trade offs and I feel like this club, we’ve obviously given up a little on the glass but we’ve gotten a lot better in other areas. 

On whether the smaller starting lineup with Kugel is something that will stay:

Golden: “I don’t know. We’ll see. Alex was playing really, really well before he went down. Obviously we need to get him back up to speed and where his wind is right and everything like that. He’s going above and beyond giving us the minutes he has now so quickly after an injury and wants to do everything he can to help us win which we’re grateful for. In my mind they are both starters, they are both starting level players and dependent on matchups and how the game is going one might play a little more than the other but they are both huge parts of our team and a huge reason why we’ve been more successful.” 

On how players have improved with the physicality:

“I don’t have a great answer for you on that. I think, maybe just the understanding of what it takes to win, and falling short a few times. And, knowing that if we’re not aggressive and physical that we’re not going to give ourselves the best chance to win. Our guys are hungry that way and obviously are enjoying the success that we’ve had and don’t want to let it go, so I would point to those things. But again, we’re not the most physical team, but we’re gritty. We’re pretty tough, and I think you can tell by the way we guard that our guys are committed to their bodies and doing what they can to win.

On communication in a hostile environment:

“I would say probably just the communication from the bench, you know, in terms of what we want to run or what defensive coverages we’re in. And listen, we’ve played in some really good environments already between Auburn and A&M was great. I’m trying to think. Kansas State, awesome environment, you know, lot of crowd noise there. But I feel like at this point, it’s not going to be something we haven’t seen before. And hopefully, previous experiences we’ve had so far, we’ll be more comfortable. And I think the key on Saturday, what I was most disappointed about after Kansas State, we didn’t get out to a good start, and it felt like we were a little timid. My hope is after this win on Wednesday and the success we’ve had in league play, we’ll go out there and try to throw the first punch on Saturday night.”

On the No. 8 ranking in adjusted defensive efficiency on KenPom is the highest they’ve had:

Golden: ”Yeah, seventh or eighth. Yeah, definitely, we were awesome in terms of it last year, but I don’t think we got above 20. This team’s an elite half court team, elite. And, we’ve talked about a lot is transition’s really important, at the beginning of the year. I think we’re better that way, but when we get teams to operate in the half court, I feel really good about our first-shot defense. And then again, it’s all about who’s getting their hand on the glass and not allowing them to get second chances. But our guys are switchable. They do a great job of guarding their yard when they need to, and they do a great job of not letting guys finish at the rim against them. And lately, they’ve done a good job of forcing teams into tougher shots, so hopefully we can keep that up.”

Todd Golden’s shoutout for Randy Bennett:

Golden: ”One more thing. Just from a personal standpoint, I wanted to give a little shoutout to my former college coach. Randy Bennett got his 500th win last night, and it’s his 22nd year at Saint Mary’s. And it’s an incredible job that, you know, the year before he took over at Saint Mary’s, they were 2-29. They had one Division 1 win. To win 500 games in 21 and a half years or whatever it is is an incredible accomplishment. And I know he doesn’t get a lot of recognition kind of being on the west coast, playing in the WCC but one of the best coaches in the country and really proud to be one of his former players. It hurt my heart a little bit because they played San Francisco last night. The Dons had a 2-point lead with like 4 or 5 minutes to go. They played really well. Chris is doing a great job there as well but just wanted to give my former college coach a shoutout.”