Thomas Haugh credits staff, strength coach for putting him on ‘path’ to play early

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida forward Thomas Haugh weighed under 200 pounds when he reported to campus last May with Alex Condon. Now both bigs are contributors as true freshmen and made multiple key plays in the Gators’ 88-82 win at Georgia on Saturday.

Haugh finished with a career-high 17 points, a team-high seven rebounds, a block and a steal. Nine months removed from arriving at UF, he’s made significant strides with his game — and his gains.

“It’s been a pretty big jump,” Haugh said. “In the weight room making some of the gains in the weight I’ve gained, and then also helping to get my shot. I think just getting more consistent in practice.”

Haugh said he first weighed in at 198. He added double-digit pounds during the offseason to reach 210 and has continued to bulk up. He said his playing weight is currently 215, up 17 pounds since he enrolled.

For Haugh, the toughest adjustment to SEC basketball has been the physicality of the league. Florida strength and conditioning coordinator Victor Lopez tried to warn him early on, but seeing is believing.

“I know he stressed it to me in the beginning. I didn’t really believe him how physical it was going to be, but it’s really physical out there. So that needed weight, that needed strength is definitely a huge thing,” Haugh said.

“Mississippi State was a super physical game and I know some of the games we have coming up will be really physical. So that’s probably the biggest difference from high school to college.”

Haugh also credits Florida coach Todd Golden and his staff for giving him “the path” to early playing time, stressing the importance of crashing the boards and giving him the freedom to shoot.

“Just started going on that path and it’s been paying off so far,” Haugh said. “The coaches lay out a good foundation for us, so it’s been a blessing.”

What is the path?

“Just playing hard,” he said. “Doing the little stuff, getting the rebounds and as freshmen kind of follow what everybody is saying.”

Golden highlighted those qualities about Haugh when discussing his performance at UGA, including 3-for-3 from downtown in the first half.

“That boy balled today, didn’t he? He got after it,” Golden said. “Hey, he’s been really good for us all year, to be honest. He’s been really good defensively. And after evaluating our games, the last couple, he’s just been so good for us. He guards, he gives us a little toughness, a little rebounding. And he can really shoot it. He’s the type of guy being young makes every 3 in practice and then we get in games and it’s a struggle. But he played his butt off today and he’s the reason why we won.”

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Thomas Haugh Q&A

On making multiple 3s in a game:

Haugh: “It felt good. It felt good that they went in, felt good to hit some shots.”

On Golden saying he’s happy as long as the team wins:

Haugh: “It’s just whatever I need to do to help the team get the win at the end. No matter how much I play, if the end result is a W, then I’m happy.”

On the game being more fun if he plays more:

Haugh: “Yeah, but it’s still the same feeling at the end.”

On what it meant to be on the floor late in the game:

Haugh: “A lot. It meant a lot to stay in the game and then for him to have the confidence in me. It’s a good feeling.”

On his mindset when making his last two plays:

Haugh: “The running shot, I saw the shot clock was going down, so I knew we needed to get a shot up. So that, and then the rebounding is something I know he stresses a lot to me and just always crash the boards. So, that time the ball I was able to go and get it.”

On Golden saying he makes every 3 in practice:

Haugh: “No! I’ve been making a couple of shots, but not every 3. He gives me the freedom to shoot in practice and then it correlated into the game this week.”

On being able to make three in a row in a game:

Haugh: “It felt good, obviously. But, you know, I’m more concerned about what I need to do to help the team get the win.”

On whether the crowds fire him up or make him anxious:

Haugh: “The first couple of games, I was definitely a little anxious and oh, Jesus, this is a lot of people, but I started to settle in a little bit. Now, a couple of games have rolled by it’s starting to feel fun.”

On where his competitiveness come from:

Haugh: “Definitely high school. My high school coach stressed that. That’s how we played in high school. Then, when it correlates to college, he kind of like mentioned that to me and this is what you need to do in college, so I give that credit to him.”

On if he started calling for the ball once the first one went in:

Haugh: “I didn’t really want the ball, but my teammates were able to find me in open spots.”

On if he felt like they were all going in:

Haugh: “Well, I mean, yeah. I just hoped when I shot it.”

On what it means for the program to be ranked:

Haugh: “It’s awesome, but Coach tells us it doesn’t mean anything. We haven’t gotten the respect yet that we deserve, so I don’t know, just keep going out there and winning these games on the road.” 

On this team not reaching its ceiling yet:

Haugh: “100 percent. If everyone is out there firing, we can go out and win a national championship. That’s our goal eventually and once we get to March Madness that’s the first goal. But then once we get there, it’s to go win the thing, so.”

On his mindset to chase the ball in the air:

Haugh: “It’s just back to high school we practice that a lot, that’s kind of how we play back in my old school. We try to out physical the other team, and just try to get every board and do that little something, that someone may not notice that much.”

On playing on the floor with Alex Condon:

Haugh: “That’s awesome, that’s my guy, we have really good chemistry and since I first got here, he’s my dude so it’s been awesome to share the court in the final minutes there too.”

On what makes Alabama so challenging:

Haugh: “I don’t know if you mentioned, coach mentioned it earlier, they have a bunch of shooters and we just need to be able to close out everybody, everybody on their team can shoot so I know that has been kind of a struggle for us, letting up 3-point attempts earlier in the year so we just need to like stay locked in on that and get a close out and get in front of everybody.”

On how much Golden been harping on 3-point defense:

Haugh: “Yesterday in practice we harped on it a lot, working on some of our screen coverages for them, just to help them with some of the shots they get off.”

On what a win over Alabama would say about UF’s defense:

Haugh: “That would be the best. I know that they score the ball at a really high rate, so defensively if we are able to get in there and get some stops and come out with the win, that would definitely show a lot of people what we’re capable of doing on defense.”

On if he and Condon discussed the potential playing as freshmen:

Haugh: “We just kind of trusted what they were telling us, the coaches. And they just kind of gave us the path and we just started going on that path and it’s been paying off so far.”

On if he has more fun grabbing a rebound in traffic or hitting a 3:

Haugh: “I don’t know, probably hitting a 3 for me. But grabbing a rebound is nice, to help seal a game, it was a good feeling too. But hitting a 3 definitely for me would be the best feeling.”