Everything Todd Golden said after Florida's win over USF

The Florida Gators opened Year 3 of the Todd Golden era with a 98-83 comeback victory against USF on Monday. Down 13, UF went on a 14-2 run to make it a one-point game before halftime and then pulled away from the Bulls with a 13-0 run in the second half.

Walter Clayton Jr. scored a team-high 29 points and fellow senior guard Will Richard set a new career high with 25. Here’s everything Golden said after the game and video from his postgame press conference.

RELATED: Takeaways from the Florida Gators’ 98-83 win over USF

Todd Golden Q&A

On USF’s strong 3-point shooting and offensive attack:

TODD GOLDEN: “We were really poor defensively in different segments of the game tonight, which was disappointing that way because we’ve been better throughout practice and through our scrimmages. First of all, before I give further [comments], I want to give a lot of credit to this South Florida team and their program, obviously playing under some really difficult circumstances. I thought Coach [Ben] Fletcher and their staff did an incredible job preparing them for tonight. That’s a really good team. They have great perimeter shooting, they have great playmaking, they have some big bodies inside, they seem to really enjoy playing together. I saw a lot of care amongst their team. Again, just commending their effort under such tough circumstances. They’re really good, and I think they’ll continue to be really good over the rest of the year. They put pressure on us in the first half, and I did not think that we handled it very well. Part of it is just figuring out being out in a real game for the first time with some new guys. I think our transition issues happened in the first half when Walt was out of the game, and I think Alijhah and Denzel had some communication issues that way, and they’re fast, and they get out and were getting downhill on us, and I think we were a little surprised by that. But I was proud of the way we rallied, obviously being down 13 in the first half. Obviously, a weak-minded team might not be able to come back the way we did. But I credit South Florida for the way they played offensively.”

On Tommy Haugh’s impact:

TODD GOLDEN: “Yeah, I mean, he’s a winning player. He’s a guy that can affect the game positively without scoring, and I thought we needed more of that tonight. I thought it was good defensively for most of the game. Obviously, six rebounds, kind of kept us in our stuff offensively. And you know that this is a team, you know the way they play, more four perimeters, you know, we’re playing big, and even though we’ve played Tommy, who’s more of a perimeter defender, we still let them bomb us out from the three-point line. And that’s something that’s going to be – I’m just not going to be okay with these types of results in terms of guarding the three-point line. So my hope is we can improve that way. But Tommy did give us good spark.”

On if getting into the paint more was a point of emphasis in the second half:

TODD GOLDEN: “Yeah, you know, we were, I thought we were playing confidently in the first half, but like a little over aggressive at times and letting it fly. We were really effective from two in the first half. I think we shot nine for whatever, like, we shot a high percentage. Let me see this (stat sheet). Sorry, getting it right, but anyways, we shot a high percentage from two in the first half. We did not shoot a good percentage from three. I thought we were settling. We weren’t putting pressure on the rim. We weren’t putting pressure on the refs to make any calls. We only shot four free throws in the first half. So a big part of the message at halftime was not allowing them to keep us on one side of the floor, working on getting downhill, getting middle, and then putting pressure on the rim. And we started with finishes, and then over the course of the half, we just wore them down a little bit, started getting them out of position defensively, trying to finish through their bodies and get to the line. So obviously, scored 59 points in the second half, we were much more effective that way, but the goal is to do that each half. And I thought we were a little soft on the offensive end in the first half.”

On the adjustment UF made trailing 13 in the first half:

TODD GOLDEN: “More about just kind of settling ourselves a little bit, you know, we were just so out of sorts, and we were starting to do some things that we don’t ever do, and so we just wanted to kind of get ourselves back organized. I thought Will [Richard] was huge in that moment. He had some big shots. He kind of took the lid off the rim in the first half. I think he scored eight points in a row, and that kind of calmed us a little bit, you know. I thought his leadership was fantastic tonight, through the ups and the downs. Same with Walt [Clayton] and Alijhah [Martin], I thought both those guys, you know, did a good job keeping us organized. But it was really just kind of all right, like, resetting a little bit, and hey, you know, we are where we are right now. We got to find a way to fight back and get this thing close by halftime, and then we went on to run ourselves. We were only down one at halftime, that gave us confidence that we could deliver the second half.”

On Martin’s impact in the second half: 

TODD GOLDEN: “He obviously didn’t shoot the ball well from 3 tonight, but I thought he was really good on the glass. I thought he did a good job getting steals, good with the ball, three assists, one turnover, you know, and he’s a confident guy right, getting downhill. Even when he’s not making shots, he’s still putting pressure on the rim, getting to the line. Had, I think, one or two really tough and-one finishes in the second half that were big momentum moments for us. So, you know, even though he didn’t shoot the ball well, he was still able to find ways to help us win tonight.”

On Rueben Chinyelu stepping up with Alex Condon in foul trouble:

TODD GOLDEN: “No, he played much better at that rip. That was definitely his best rotation of the night, and we needed it the most at that moment. I thought he was really good defensively. Got a good couple good rebounds, and, you know, did a good job setting screens and putting pressure on the rim offensively. But listen, you know, with those four guys, you know, I probably should have played Sam (Alexis) a little more. He was good, really good in the first half. Got a little fatigued in the second half, and then Rueben had such a good stretch that, you know, those guys are going to have moments where they play 20 minutes, 15, whatever it is. But each frontcourt player had a stretch where they really helped us win the game, and I thought, you know, to your point, Rueben did a good job in that moment, really helping us extend the lead in the second half.” 

On how many different looks Florida can give with Sam Alexis: 

TODD GOLDEN: “We expect our bigs, you know, we play a couple of them at a time, but we expect them to be able to do things on the perimeter, you know, that normal bigs wouldn’t be expected to do. Obviously, we let our bigs shoot a little bit, like, a team like tonight we expect them to be able to guard on the perimeter and guard the 3-point line. We didn’t do that well, but Condo, Tommy and Sam, even Rueben, they’re all guys that can switch and keep a guy in front and, you know, Sam’s versatility and his intellect, he has really good basketball IQ, I think, help him be really good, you know, multiple-position defender.”

On it not being surprising Walter and Will led the scoring:

TODD GOLDEN: “No, mean, listen, we felt incredibly fortunate to be able to get them back in our program. You know, they’re really, really loyal guys, and we felt like they were guys that we could build around after last season. And I put a lot – even though Alijhah wasn’t in our program last year – he, along with those two, are guys that we feel really confident leading us. And I mean, I’m just really happy for all those guys, but specifically Walter and Wil. 29 points, 25 points, you know, we feel like we have an explosive perimeter and those guys on any given night can really help us win games.”