Everything Todd Golden said about the Vanderbilt game, Bama loss

GAINESVILLE, Fla. —   After playing six of its last nine games on the road, Todd Golden and the Florida Gators (13-11, 6-5 SEC) return home where they have four straight wins, including a victory over then-No. 2 Tennessee in the last game.

UF’s next opponent, Vanderbilt, also beat the Vols on Wednesday. The Gators’ active streak of nine straight wins against Vandy marks the longest winning streak for either team in series history.

Here is everything said Florida coach Todd Golden Friday on the matchup with the Commodores (12-12, 5-6 SEC), the loss at No. 3 Alabama and his team’s NCAA Tournament chances.

On whether everything is front of the team Tournament-wise:

Todd Golden: “Yeah. The numbers, sort of speak, are in the same spot as they were going into it. We now have that huge quality win that we needed. Obviously, not happy with the game at Bama, but it can happen in the fourth game of a stretch like that, obviously, on the road against one of the best teams in the country. They jumped us pretty good. They were a buzz saw that night. Not sure who could have beat them on their home floor that night. We came out in the second half and had a little juice, but again, we have to come out and prepare for this weekend’s huge game with Vandy coming in. We can’t worry so much about the end of the year or else we won’t ever get there. But we are in position to do what we wanted to do at the beginning of the year. Tomorrow is going to be a huge start to that.” 

On whether UF executed its plan to defend Alabama from 3: 

Golden: “Obviously not. They shot it really well, as well. Again, they’re a top 20 offensive team on their home floor. You can’t take away everything. You can try, but I think that’s a bad formula. So you have to try some things that you really want to limit them on and live with a couple other things. To their credit, they hit couple 3s off the dribble, which you got to live with a little bit. I thought their guards did a good job driving in the first half. And obviously we didn’t do a good enough job on Miller, but he’s a special player. Probably one of the best, if not the best player in college this year. Now we didn’t do a good enough job limiting 3s against them. So we have to do better moving forward.”

On what can be done to limit 3s after the last two teams shot 44%:

Golden: “Kentucky was five of 11. They got 11 up. That’s not very many. They didn’t beat us because they made 3s that game. They beat us in mid-range. Beat us on the glass. Beat the scout a little bit. I’m more concerned with Alabama in terms of our inability to limit, but they do shoot 50 percent of their shots from 3. Again, we didn’t execute taking away the 3. A little better in the second, but not nearly good enough to beat a team like that. I don’t anticipate that being a trend. We’ll get back to being ourselves that way and hopefully being on our home floor we’ll be a little more comfortable in that regard. I wouldn’t say I’m worried about it, but we’re definitely focused on it moving forward.”

On whether the last two games are defensive outliers:

Golden: “Again, they’re separate, at least the way I look at it. Kentucky and Bama two completely different efforts against us. Kentucky was good, but they weren’t elite. Alabama was elite against us. Not going to make a mountain out of a molehill in my mind. Again, we get these guys on their home floor and see what we’re capable of doing.”

On if transition D has been an issue in recent games:

Golden: “Again, Bama is not great in any of those areas. Kentucky got us a little bit that way the first half. We did a much better job in the second half preventing it. Not too worried. Vanderbilt is a team with a really aggressive point guard, so we’re going to have to do a really good job slowing him down. It will be an emphasis and I think we’ll be all right.”

On Vanderbilt also being desperate for a Q1 win:

Golden: “It’s every game at this point. Vandy’s playing, they have two good wins in a row and probably gained a little confidence in that stretch. They’re a little healthier now. We know what we’re up against in terms of having a good team. It’s a very good offensive team analytically coming in. A team that’s been a little bit below average defensively, but I think they’re figuring that out, as well. The schedule quote unquote lightens up in the next four, but all these teams are good – they’re very good team. Obviously, Vandy has shown the capacity to beat anyone on any night. We’re definitely not taking anybody lightly. Our guys will be revved up, ready to go. That’s why you’re in the SEC, every single one of these games is difficult and going to be a battle.”

On the Big Dance still being a barometer or if his thinking has changed:

Golden: “I think we’ll deem this season incredibly successful if we make the tournament and we’ll be disappointed if we don’t. We’re at the point where we’re very close to being that team. We’re at the border whether we are or whether we’re not. These next seven games will define that. So, it’s all in play for what we wanted to do. Will this season be a huge disappointment or not a success if we don’t make it? Maybe in that frame. But at the same time, I think we’ve done a lot to build a foundation in the program especially on the defensive side of the ball. It’s definitely a metric that we use to evaluate a season. I think it will be successful if we’re able to do it.”

On how CJ Felder has he looked in practice:

Golden: “He’s back to being part of the team and potentially helping us. If the situation arises where he can I think he’s got to continue to get in shape. He did a decent job on his own, working out, really trying to clear his mind and make sure he was ready to go when he’s got back, and he’s had a great attitude. You can tell he’s in a much better space and he’s in really good spirits. I think his body is one we need over the rest of the year so I’m hopeful at some point he’ll be able to help us out.” 

On processing a game like the other night:

Golden: “That was a flush it game for me, to be honest. You know, there are other ones in the year where we haven’t played well, whether it’s the West Virginia, UConn. Those were the two earlier in the year where we got beat up. I thought there were a lot of teaching points we could pull from those games to help ourselves moving forward, whereas we’ve made big strides from that point in the year. I think a lot of the things that didn’t go our way on Thursday, first of all, again, Alabama played really, really well, which was part of it and things that we already know that are important that we can probably correct without watching the film. It’s more about getting our guys freshened up both mentally and physically, not breaking down a lot of film on this game and just making sure we’re prepared for Vandy.” 

On if they hammer guys on their performance:

Golden: “There’s different ways to look at it, you know, in a situation where I don’t think it was an effort-based issue in that game. So, when there’s stuff like that, we will clean it up. I thought we played pretty hard, we just got beat. I thought our effort in the beginning of the second half proved that, cut that thing to 17 or whatever and kept fighting, kept battling so I wasn’t concerned about our team’s effort we just have to play better and do a better job taking some stuff away and we’ll address that in practice today.” 

On Kowacie’s improvement handling adversity:

Golden: “Yeah, I think it’s been a little bit of an up and down stretch for him in league play, but he’s been a good teammate. He’s kept a good head space and I know from conversations I’ve had directly with him that his main concern is just winning and that’s the most important thing to him. I thought he played pretty well against ‘Bama, in his minutes and showed signs of kind of coming out of a little bit of his slump, hit a big 3 in the second half. So hopeful in talking to him about the fact we need him. When he plays well, we’re really, really good, so we’re continuing to pour into him. I think his attitude and his energy has been really good and I’m hopeful that as we get back on our home floor and attack this seven-game stretch that he will continue to get better for us.” 

On how is Myreon after the eye rake:

Golden: “He was a little, I don’t want to say woozy, but had a little bit of blurred vision in the eye from being poked. Wanted to be out there for his teammates and so he tried to give it a go but you could tell he really wasn’t himself early in that second half. And so, as opposed to just throwing him out there and throwing him to the wolves, I thought it would be better to kind of give some other guys a shot, try to get him ready for Saturday. So, I think he’ll be good to go. Just dealing through that injury, obviously he couldn’t give his best effort.”

On second half performances:

Golden: “I think a little bit of our issue is, and there have been a couple of home games in league play, but mostly on the road we’ve had some issues coming out and part of it is us pressing and trying to get off to a good start. Obviously being mindful of some slow starts and trying to address that and make sure that we’re not doing that and then it kind of snowballs a little bit. And then in the second half, obviously we’re making some adjustments and we’re attacking things a little bit differently and our guys seem to play with a little bit more confidence, a little bit more freedom, a little more F it, so to speak, in the second half, which obviously gives you a little more confidence. It’s hard to pinpoint it as to why we don’t get off to great starts, but other teams are trying to stop us as well and they have good gameplans. There’s good coaches in this league. This isn’t exactly, with the exception of Wednesday night, an offensive explosion league in the first half. You see a lot of 20s and low 30s because these teams are really good defensively, they’re really physical and they get on the glass. I do hope that we can continue to be a good second-half team.”

On Vanderbilt center Liam Robbins:

Golden: “I think you got to attack him and you can’t let him off the hook. I think he’s a little foul prone when you do but he’s a very good player and he’s playing well since he came back from injury. He had a great game against Tennessee and hit some really, really tough shots and proved to be a big reason as to why they won. We have to attack the ball screen and make them guard us a little bit and see if we can get them in foul trouble or see if we can get some rim 2s against them.”

On the shot blocking matchup with Colin Castleton and Robbins:

Golden: “Yeah, two really talented guys. Both of them are important to the success of their respective teams in that sense and we’ll see who can have the upper hand on Saturday.”

On Will Richard’s improvements recently:

“We call it the four but he’s really just defending the fours. When he’s out there, we’re playing four-guard stuff whether he’s in the trail or on the wing. That’s one of Will’s biggest strengths, his flexibility and ability to do different things. It’s more difficult than you would imagine for a guy like Will or any player to have to know two different spots in the offense so to speak whether its in the wing or in the trail but his ability to do that makes us better and I think we’ve seen that over the past three or four weeks and he’s obviously had a really good season and we need him to continue to do that down the stretch.”