Everything Todd Golden said after Florida's 84-60 win over FAMU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators improved to 5-0 on Monday with their 84-60 win over Florida A&M. It was a tale of two halves for Todd Golden’s team, which outscored the Rattlers by 24 in the first period before a 38-38 tie in the second half.

Here’s everything Golden said after the game.

RELATED: Takeaways from the Florida Gators’ 84-60 win over FAMU

Todd Golden Q&A

Opening statement:

TODD GOLDEN: “Look, I thought we played really well in the first half. Thought we did a good job to get a 24-point lead, and I just thought in the second half we let our foot off the gas a little bit, you know? Stylistically, I thought offensively we played pretty well. We didn’t, obviously, we did not shoot it well – missed 15 threes and I thought we allowed that to affect our defense a little bit in the second half, and we fouled way too much on the defensive end, sent them to the line 19 times in the second half. Like I talk about with the guys in the locker room, our expectation is to play two complete halves, play 40 minutes. I thought tonight, we played 20 really good minutes in the first half, and then we were just OK in the second. So, a lot to improve upon, we’ll have some good film to break down with the guys as we prepare for Southern Illinois on Friday.”

On UF lacking intensity to start games:

TODD GOLDEN: “I think we come out with the right mentality. We haven’t played our best in the first four minutes. We did win the first four-minute game. I think we were up 7-6 or whatever it was but sometimes it does take you a couple possessions to get in the flow and to get comfortable. I do believe our mentality was good and we had the right spirit about us coming out we just didn’t play our best until kind of the middle of the first half.”

On the play of Will Richard (20 points) and Walter Clayton Jr. (17):

TODD GOLDEN: “I’d throw (senior guard) Alijah (Martin) in there, too. He had 14 (points), nine (rebounds) and four (assists), no turnovers. Those guys, as you all know, we built this team with those three guys being the main cogs on the perimeter and guys we play off of and lead us. They’re our veteran leadership and their experienced. All three of those guys have scored 1,000 points in college, all are great shooters, tough, physical defenders and guys that understand how to win. So it gives you a lot of confidence as a coach to be able to rip those guys out there. When we’re at our best, they’re just playing, right? Like we’re getting stops, we’re getting clean rebounds and we’re getting out in transition and they’re just making plays. I had to play them a little more than I wanted to tonight to be able to make sure that we finished the game the right way but, yeah, it gives you a lot of comfort as a coach when you’re able to roll those guys out there.”

On Thomas Haugh’s performance:

TODD GOLDEN: “He’s the definition of a winning player, right? He does all the quote-unquote ‘little things’ that impact winning. He’s a guy that can switch defensively, he’s a very good rebounder, a really good ball-mover and facilitator on the offensive end, and hit a couple shots tonight – 12 [points], seven [rebounds], two assists, three steals, you know, just finds ways to impact [the game] and +23 in 28 minutes. But without having Sam [Alexis] tonight, without having Denzel [Aberdeen], obviously our bench was shortened and we needed a guy like Tommy to step up and play more minutes, and we knew he would be up to the task. But he’s fantastic, he comes to play and compete every day and generally gives us a better chance to win when he’s on the floor.”

On extending minutes for Urban Klavzar and Isaiah Brown:

TODD GOLDEN: “I thought Urby played well, he just didn’t shoot well. I thought he played hard, I thought he defended well, had a good floor game with three assists, zero turnovers and I think for him it’s just going to take a little bit to get comfortable playing at this level. Just kind of getting thrown into the mix early in the season but I was pleased with his effort. Obviously, we want him to make a couple more shots but I was pleased with his effort. I thought Zay was awesome. I thought he did a really nice job at the end of the first half taking advantage of the minutes that he got in the last mini-game. Hit those two big 3s that really extended it to 24. Got a great defensive stop at the end of the first half. Kind of was put in a one-on-one situation in the middle of the floor, moved his feet and kind of used his physicality to force a turnover. Zay Brown is a guy we believe will be a great player here at Florida and obviously has some really good ones in front of him right now but as early as next year, we think he can be an impact player in a big way. I was happy for him that he got to play a little more tonight and proud of him for taking the opportunity.”

On Alex Condon’s off night (five points on 2-for-8 shooting):  

TODD GOLDEN: “I think tonight was hopefully a little bit of an aberration. He was shooting like 85 percent from 2 coming into this game and tonight just had some bad breaks and to credit FAMU, I thought they bothered him around the rim. They blocked a couple of his shots and didn’t go for a couple of his pump fakes. He kind of got caught in no-man’s land. But Condo is always playing hard. He didn’t have his best game, his most efficient game, but he’s always playing hard and competing his tail off. Got on the glass, protected the rim again, got two steals so, again, he found ways to impact winning, he just did not finish tonight. Hopefully as we kind of prepare for [Southern Illinois], I think he’ll be better on Friday night that way.”

On closing out both halves with runs of 19-2 and 15-4:

TODD GOLDEN: “I was pleased obviously with both for different reasons. I thought the first half, to be able to extend it to 24 on a 19-2 run was awesome. Different guys stepped up and kind of helped us create that lead. And then we challenged our guys the last eight minutes of the game. We were getting after them pretty good. Again, we have bigger goals. So making sure that we’ve competitive for all 40 and not letting ourselves off the hook. And that last mini game, we challenged them. Listen, we’re not satisfied with the way this game is ending right now. We gotta find a way to spread it out a little bit and we did. So, again, want to be more complete. But in those specific situations, I thought we did a good job.”

On Florida’s 30-4 advantage in fastbreak points:

“As you know, that’s kind of who we are. We want to get out in transition and score early in the clock. To win that battle 30-4 was important. And to be honest, we probably could have or should have done a little better that way in terms of what we were able to do on the offensive end. I do think when we go back and watch, we missed some really good looks from 3. I thought we have took three quick ones or ones that weren’t great shots. But for the most part, I thought we got some really good catch-and-shoot looks that we just didn’t knock down. So playing the percentages, I do believe that will kind of go in our favor here shortly, especially with the guys that are taking those shots. It just hasn’t gone that way for us, but fortunately we’ve still been able to win.” 

On leaving Alijah Martin in the game longer:

TODD GOLDEN: “It’s one of his best qualities, his competitiveness and his maturity and the way he attacks it. First of all, he knows what winning is, obviously playing in the Final Four. And to have someone like him with Will and Walt that kind of has that mentality, right? This is all three of those guys’ last rip. So the way they compete on a daily basis is really important. And Alijah is a guy that regardless of what the score is, you know that he’s going to compete at a high level and he’s not always going to be perfect. But he’s a guy that I would always want on my team. He’s always going to play the right way. I’ve seen his floor game improve dramatically since he’s been with us already. Another four-assist, zero-turnover night. And he’s just becoming a really complete basketball player.”

On Florida’s ability to draw fouls:

TODD GOLDEN: “It’s huge. When you’re not shooting the ball well, you can go through spells where you’re having a lot of empty possessions. And when you’re able to get to the line, I feel like that settles you a little bit. We shot it decent from the line, 70 percent tonight. But that’s the most efficient way to score. You get to the line, that’s about 1.4 points per possession and it’s a good way to maintain consistency and not allow teams to go on runs against you. And to be honest, that’s why we were having so much trouble keeping FAMU down in the second half. We just let them get to the line 19 times. And to their credit, they made 85 percent of them. So our field goal percentage defense was great, 34 percent from the field. They only shot 24 (percent) from 3. But that free throw percentage for them was the equalizer and allowed them to play us even in the second half.”