‘Pretty systematic’: Todd Golden reacts to win over Oklahoma

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Walter Clayton Jr.’s 18 points led five Gators in double figures in Florida’s 85-63 win over Oklahoma on Tuesday. UF hit 12 3-pointers and matched a season-low with six turnovers.

Here’s everything Florida coach Todd Golden said after the victory over Oklahoma.

RELATED: Takeaways from the Florida Gators’ 85-63 win over Oklahoma

Todd Golden Q&A

Opening statement

TODD GOLDEN: “Just again, incredibly proud of our team. I thought we did a really good job of being pretty systematic with our effort tonight. After the first four minutes I thought we played really well, sharing the ball, shot the ball really well in the first half, defended at a very good level, which we needed to do. I think Oklahoma is a very good offensive team. They’re very hard to guard. They run good stuff. They play together. They go undersized a little bit, which makes them a little harder to guard, especially for us, a team that likes to stay big and holding them to 26%, 27% in the first half, I thought set the tone. And obviously the back half of that first half, we were able to get on a little bit of a run, create a little bit of separation, go into halftime with a comfortable lead, and then in the second half just see what we needed to do to finish the game. Shot our free throws pretty well, rebounded during the second half. We were pretty elite tonight taking care of the ball. I thought we did a good job of limiting our turnovers, and we had guys step up and play well. I though Urb had a great game, gave us really good minutes off the bench. Alijah I thought played well. Obviously, Walt and Will had really good moments. And probably the best thing for us in tonight’s game was the fact that we were able to get through it only playing guys at the most 27 minutes. We’ve had to stretch the guys out during this period where we’ve had some injuries. And to be able to get through tonight, with Walt and Alijah playing the most minutes at 27, gives me confidence we’ll be fresh and ready to go for LSU on Saturday.”

On limiting Jalon Moore to eight shots: 

TODD GOLDEN: “It was a big part of our game plan. He’s an explosive scorer, 18 and a half a game, really hard to guard as an undersized kind of offensive four in our league. And, in a way, having Tommy out there the majority of the time against him was really, really good for us with his feet, his ability to stay in front. I thought we did a good job on our switches, just keeping him in front, making him move the ball, as opposed to taking advantage of closeouts and drives. And to beat a team like Oklahoma, you got to limit some of their good players. We obviously allowed Fears to get going in the second half, but I thought we did a good job on Moore for a majority of the evening.” Would you

On if he considered the first-half defense to be elite: 

TODD GOLDEN: “I thought it was very good, you know, 27%, we held them to two 3-pointers made, which is a big part of our scout. Guys like Goodine and Miles are really, really good shooters, and we wanted to limit their opportunities in a game like tonight. We fouled a little too much, we gave them 11 free throws. But to hold them to 24, I’d say that’s a very good effort, for sure.”

On limiting turnovers, what they did well: 

TODD GOLDEN: “I thought we kept it simple, you know, for the most part. We didn’t put ourselves in precarious situations. We made the simple play and got off the ball pretty well for the most part, let our teammate or the next guy make it, make the play. And just kind of took what the defense gave us. I thought that we did a good job of keeping it simple on the offensive end.”

On the offensive flow and rhythm: 

TODD GOLDEN: “Yeah, again, we knock on wood, and the second half we weren’t great, but we’ve shot the ball really well over the past couple weeks. And when we do that, especially here at home, we have the ability to kind of extend the lead and get out on some people here, and we were able to get stops. It’s all connected. I thought our first-shot defense was good. When we rebounded well in the first half, we were able to get out in transition and get out in the open court and get some easier baskets that way. But guys stepped up and made shots. Walt made some tough threes in the first half. I thought Will had that little stretch where he made his three threes in a span of a couple minutes. And, our team has the ability to get some really good runs and get some spurts, and we did that at times in the first half.”

On if there was a tipping point after the loss at Tennessee or they flushed it: 

TODD GOLDEN: “I think that part. I thought we flushed that Tennessee game. That was a tough game. Obviously, Walt had that ankle injury in the first half, and we just could never get in a rhythm, and credit Tennessee, I thought they did a really good job of guarding and bothering us that day. But we didn’t lose any confidence after that game. We weren’t shook. It allowed us to kind of recalibrate and focus on defending, rebounding, taking care of the ball, things that we know equate to winning. But it really was just, you know, in this league, it’s the best league in college basketball in like 20 years. Like you’re gonna run into some tough opponent. Tennessee on their home floor is a tough game, and, you know, we didn’t play very well that day, but we’ve obviously played really well since then.”

On the analytical foul at the end of the first half: 

TODD GOLDEN: “Yeah, to an extent. I think we scored, and with the shot clock off or whatever, and they had the opportunity to hold for the last shot, and they were in the one-and-one, which was a big part of it. And instead of them having that last possession, where I guess I think generally at the end of the half, that last possession is probably worth like, .85, .9, something like that. So, with 28 seconds left, or whatever it was, at that point, it was .9 for them and then zero for us, because we weren’t going to get a shot, right. And so we want our guys to be aggressive. Fears probably not the one we wanted to foul, but at the end of the day, they were in the one-and-one. So, 90% free throw shooter in the one-and-one, that’s probably worth, like, 1.5, something like that, for that possession. But then we get the ball back and we get a shot. So that’s .84, .9 our way, so we saved a couple tenths of a point on that and broke our way. Missed the one-and-one, we come down and score, we end up winning it 2-0. But we had to give ourselves a chance by fouling to get the ball back and take advantage of it, and it broke our way.”

On having big guys who can switch onto guards and stay in front of them: 

TODD GOLDEN: “Yeah, Rueben and Tommy are great with their feet. Condo’s pretty good. Micah, still working and getting back, getting his legs back under him that way. But, as you guys know, I’m a big proponent of taking advantage of the skill set of our players. And I think Rueben, his ability to move his feet for a frontcourt player is elite. And Tommy is very switchable. So in a game like today, where we knew they would downsize to try to take advantage of our size, try to get some rotations and put us in rotations and get some threes off that, we thought switching 1-5 would be a good way to counteract that and limit their opportunities to get catch-and-shoots. And when you have a possession like that, where there are players trying out Rueben, he does a good job keeping him in front, keeping him in front, and it leads to a turnover, those are huge plays for us, and they’re deflating for opponents. But our frontcourt’s versatility is obviously a big part of why we are who we are.”

On if he felt Alijah Martin looked more like himself tonight: 

TODD GOLDEN: “Yeah, I did. I thought he was. Honestly, I thought he was himself in the second half of our last game. I thought first half – you know, he wasn’t, by no means was he not good. But he just, it took him a little bit. I thought second half last game he was really good. And then tonight, it felt like old school A-Mart out there. He was just aggressive. I thought he was really good defensively. He got five defensive rebounds, good floor game, two steals, like, he did it all. He played really, really well.” 

On the case for Walter Clayton Jr. to be first-team All-American:

TODD GOLDEN: “I mean, I shouldn’t have to say too much at this point. The guy’s obviously been an incredible player for us all year, playing the point guard position for us. We’re ranked second nationally, and he’s one of the best players in the country – a lead guard that can do it all. Obviously, can score when the team needs it, hits shots that just very few other guys in college basketball would even think about taking, and he does it very well and very efficiently. I think just the command he has out on the court consistently is second to none. And his floor game has just improved so much to have another game tonight with two assists, zero turnovers says so much about the maturation of his game. He’s a great player. When you’re the second-best team in America, your best player probably deserves the first team, especially when the guy like Walt has done what he has over the course of the year.”

On Will Richard leading the team with eight boards:

TODD GOLDEN: “When Will is active on a glass like that, it makes us really, really, really good. The great thing about having guys like him and Martin is they’re both veterans, they’re both strong, they can both guard the 4s a little bit if we need them to and they both get on the glass when we challenge them, and guys like Condo, Tommy, Sam, Rueben and Micah aren’t just getting all of them. So the ability for us to play small, which we did for 16 minutes tonight, because we didn’t play Micah and Rueben at all together tonight – Tommy only played so I guess 15 minutes or so, it gives us another element. And a big part of that also is Urby being able to come in and play 22 minutes, and just played very, very well. He’s really raised his level. We just have a deep team, and we’ve had a bunch of guys step up when their numbers are called. Will and Martin’s  maturity and willingness to be able to go from playing the wing or the guard to playing stretch four for a little bit says a lot about them.”

On the confidence Florida is playing with:

TODD GOLDEN: “I just think with the consistency in the way in which we compete and the freedom in which we play on offense. We try not to call too many things, in terms of setting up actions and running them. We play whatever we call our early game, which is basically continuous ball screen motion because we feel like we have guys that can make plays off ball screens and make correct reads. It’s just harder to scout as opposed to running the set action that has one specific shot you’re looking for. But I also think our guys had a lot of fun out there. You see when certain guys make plays how excited our best gets. We have a very connected team. We have a lot of guys that care about each other and that pull for each other. An example I’ll give is I took Walt and Will out, I think it was like 10 minutes to go in the second half. Selfish guys would have been pissed that they didn’t get to go back in the game. They’re usually playing 34, 35 minutes, tonight they played 27. I was mindful of it. I looked down at the bench with about five minutes ago, we had a score and both those guys were up going nuts for their teammates when they finished the bucket. And I’m just like, man, this is why we’re good right here. These guys that are senior leaders that unfortunately for us, in a couple months are going to be moved on and playing pro and having aspirations to play at the highest level. Instead of them worried about their individual numbers, they’re going for Denzel, Urby and Zay when they’re in the game to go have some success and have some personal points and accolades. So again, it goes back to our tea just being super unselfish and guys playing and pulling for each other.”