Everything Todd Golden said ahead of UF's matchup with Kentucky

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Todd Golden and the Florida Gators (14-13/7-7 SEC) renew their rivalry with Kentucky on Wednesday night in Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

UF looks for a split with the Wildcats but must do so without Colin Castleton (broken hand), who dominated the post in the first meeting with 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots and a steal, while limiting Oscar Tshiebwe to 2-for-14 shooting and four points.

Here is everything Gators coach Todd Golden said Tuesday on the matchup with Kentucky (18-9/9-5 SEC), how Florida fared without Castleton in Fayetteville, the play of Jason Jitoboh and Aleks Szymczyk and more.

On points allowed in the paint and interior defense issues:

Todd Golden: “Definitely an issue. Honestly, in the first half, I was OK with a little bit of it. Overall, in terms of we took away the 3. Jalen Graham made some tougher ones over us within that mix of making six, but I thought the first 10 minutes of the second half, collectively we just weren’t tough enough, weren’t strong enough, in terms of keeping them out of the paint. We knew going into that game it was going to be a challenge. As we kind of tried to reinvent ourselves we knew it was going to be an uphill battle that way. I was really proud of the way we came out and competed, though, especially for the first half to be down six at halftime. We didn’t shoot the ball very well. We led for seven minutes in the first half. But, again, I point to the first 10 minutes of the second half were not good enough. Thought we kind of rallied late and still competed. But to win that game on the road, you got to play 40, and we were 30 for 40 in terms of minutes in that game in my mind. Part of that is our interior defense. We got to continue to improve and try to find ways to solve that. But our effort needs to be complete for 40 minutes on Wednesday night to win that game.” 

On Oscar Tshiebwe and Chris Livingston:

Golden: “Obviously we have to do a good job. We did a great job on Oscar the first time, and Colin was a big part of that. We got to do a better job collectively of helping each other out, knowing that it’s probably going to be hard for one guy to just load up and stop them for 40 minutes. But we’ll have some different things that we can do and that we can look at that I think will help us take on that challenge tomorrow night.” 

On Aleks Szymczyk:

Golden: “I thought he was really good. Obviously had some mistakes and wasn’t perfect, but the guy’s first real rip was in Bud Walton, one of the hardest places to play in America. Not a lot of preparation in terms of minutes on the floor and I think he played 17 minutes and had eight (points) and six (rebounds) or something like that with four steals, one block. Great block on Jordan Walsh in the middle of the paint. Most impressive thing was he wasn’t scared. He had a great mentality. Stepping on the court with older guys, good players, stepping up and hitting two big. Was really pleased and I’m happy for him that he was able to perform so well.” 

On more minutes for Szymczyk:

Golden: “Absolutely. Yeah, we’re gonna ride with him down the stretch without Colin. But it gives you more confidence as a coach knowing that, and that’s one of the things that we value so much about him is just his competitive spirit and his approach on a day-to-day basis and his consistency. I mean eight and six in 17 minutes is hard to do for anybody, but for a freshman in that environment I thought was really, really good and says a lot about what his potential is for his future here.” 

On how he’s seen him grow this season:

Golden: “Yeah, I go back to his consistency. The way he approaches practice every day, you’re not going to find many guys that last longer on the floor than he does after practice in terms of getting his additional work in and additional skills and spends a lot of time with Vic (Victor Lopez) in the weight room. And I think his body’s continued to transform over the year. But he along with Denzel (Aberdeen), Riley (Kugel), them being freshmen, those are the type of guys that we’ll continue to bring into our program, guys that work really hard, guys that are proud to be here and guys that aren’t satisfied, guys that want to continue to try to build bigger roles within the program.” 

On how daunting it is to readjust their attack in February:

Golden: “I’m not tossing the puzzle, but it a little bit. Is it invigorating? I don’t know if I would use that word. Challenging is one but yeah, listen, you can only control the controllables like we couldn’t control the fact that Colin went out, if I sat here and pouted about it, I’d be a loser is the way I think about it and so that’s the challenge for myself, our staff, our team is obviously we’re without one of our really good players but the way I look at it is it’s an opportunity for others to step up, and an opportunity for us to show like hey, we’ve still got some really good players in the program and obviously it’s going to take a little time to adjust but again, like I’m leaning on competitive spirit, I’m leaning on physicality, guys that aren’t going to run from the fight, and those are the guys we are going to roll with down the stretch.” 

On talking to guys being process-oriented instead of results-oriented:

Golden: “That’s kind of the challenge right, the balance and the challenge is trying to go about it the right way because I feel we can still compete. We have four games left in the regular season. All four are winnable games for us, one way or the other. Obviously, it’s going to be more difficult for us now, but I want to make sure guys are going about it with the mentality of we’re here to win every game, we’re not OK with just being competitive. We want to go out on Wednesday and beat Kentucky. I don’t want to give them the out like hey without Colin it’s OK. It ain’t OK. We’re not who we were for the first 26 games, but I still have confidence in our guys. I think our guys definitely have confidence in our staff. We’ve done a really good job staying together that way and my hope is as we continue to build back up we’ll continue to be more confident and have a chance to go win some of these games down the stretch.”

On the message to players like Kugel in light of Castleton’s injury:

Golden: “It’s different for everybody. The message is a little different for everyone, especially guys like Kyle Lofton, they’re really going to need to step up and make some baskets down the stretch, make plays for everybody. When Colin’s out, everybody has to step up. Everybody has to do a little bit more. That doesn’t mean they need to score more or make every play, it just means that you have to hold yourself more accountable on the winning things. We have to be better defensively than we were on Saturday. We’ve got to be better on the glass. We have to find a way to scrap out more possessions on the glass and, like I said before, we have to compete for 40 minutes regardless of the circumstances. I think that’s the most important thing as we play tomorrow night. If we’re competitive physically and mentally for 40 minutes, we’re going to give ourselves a great chance to win the game tomorrow night so that’s where we’re at in terms of each individual guy and I think Riley has done a really good job stepping up with the opportunity that he’s had.”

On his hopes for the crowd against Kentucky:

Golden: “My hope is that we have a huge contingent of Gator fans there tomorrow night. That’s what I hope it’s going to be every game that I’m the coach here.”

On things other than defense and rebounding that need to come into focus to give the team a better chance:

Golden: “I think, and again talk about being process-oriented, that’s where we’re going to give ourselves the best chance, just focusing on those things, the defending, the rebounding, the taking care of the ball. We’ll continue to try to figure out some things to manufacture in the halfcourt to give us some better opportunities to get easier baskets closer, you know, rim 2s. But I’m setting the floor with those three areas and if we can do those things well, we’re going to be in every game and the games where we make some shots, we’re going to give ourselves a good chance to win.”

On the benefit of a strong atmosphere:

Golden: “It’s called the home court advantage. It’s why teams generally play better at home than on the road and if we have a great crowd like we did against Tennessee, it will definitely help us as we look to beat Kentucky tomorrow night.”

On Jason Jitoboh’s performance against Arkansas and what Florida will need from him for the remainder of the season:

Golden: “I thought he was really, really good against Mississippi down the stretch, playing 15 minutes straight or whatever it was. People might not remember, we were only up six when he came in the game. We were having trouble stopping them with Colin on the floor for the first four minutes and we were able to extend that thing from six to 18 at one point and I think we finished at 15 or whatever. That was super encouraging. I don’t think he played great against Arkansas but I thought his effort was there. I thought he did a really good job with his physicality in the paint. He just didn’t score a lot and missed some passes that I think he’ll catch tomorrow night. The area that we need him to continue to help us is on the glass, just being physical and using his body to keep the other bigs off the glass. I’m impressed with his wind though and that he’s able to play minutes consistently without getting tired because he’s had short minutes over the course of conference play and, again, we talk about opportunity, he’s a guy that I look at like, ‘Hey, your time’s now.’ He did a good job last year, going back and watching the tape, when Colin was out and stepping in for him. I think he’ll play a better game tomorrow night.”

On the most minutes he could get out of Jason in a game:

Golden: “After the Mississippi game, I’m thinking 40 minutes. … But I’m telling you, after the Mississippi game I think he can play starter’s minutes. Whether that’s 20 or 25 minutes, whatever that might be. If he’s rolling really well, maybe a little more than that. But he’s kept himself in good shape, which is really important. I keep going back to that Mississippi game. I though was a good precursor for him. With that, again, we can roll him out for 15 straight minutes and he can survive; and not only survive, but do a good job.” 

Any chance we see Felder the rest of the season:

Golden: “He played Saturday. So, yeah, there’s a good chance you’ll see that again. … [Played] a couple minutes. Two or three. But, yeah, everybody is on call right now. I think that’s another one of the messages to the team. It’s our 12 scholarship guys against everybody. Denzel [Aberdeen] has to be ready. I think he’ll get a crack tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes. But, yeah, CJ will get another crack down the stretch.”

On what the 3s did for Aleks’ confidence:

Golden: “I think the best way to describe it was that it was validating for him. I think of him as a pretty confident kid; in a good way. When I was a freshman, playing, going into Bud Walton I would’ve been a little nervous stepping into that environment for my first game. But he wasn’t nervous. He went out first or second defensive possession, pinned Walsh’s drive on the block, an incredibly athletic play. Great timing. Four steals. Was really good playing in between the ball-screen coverage. Those [3s] are shots he’s capable of making. You’ve been in practice. You’ve seen him make those shots in practice, so that wasn’t that much of a surprise. But, again, validating and hopefully a good confidence-builder for him.” 

On those shots providing validation for his work:

Golden: “It does. That it matters to put that effort in, for sure. He’s a great worker like that.”