Todd Golden details Florida's win at Miami in preseason scrimmage

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Todd Golden met with the media on Tuesday following his team’s preseason scrimmage at Miami on Saturday.

The Gators defeated the Hurricanes 91-89, led by a 20-point performance from sophomore guard and preseason All-SEC selection Riley Kugel.

Graduate transfer forward Tyrese Samuel also scored 19 points against UM, a Final Four team last season. Nijel Pack led the Canes with 27 points.

Below is everything Golden said during his Tuesday availability.

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Todd Golden details Gators scrimmage, preseason

On Saturday’s scrimmage at Miami:

Golden: “Obviously, going down and playing Miami, coming off their Final Four run, returning three really, really good players, Nigel Pack, Wooga Poplar, Norchad Omier, players who had played a lot of high-level basketball the last couple years, I thought it would be a really good test for us. I feel like we have a good team. I feel like we’ve grown and gotten better. But until you go up against someone else you always have those doubts and question marks. The thing that I was most pleased with, I thought our effort was great. I thought we played really, really hard. I thought we played with pace and we were super unselfish. I thought we did a great job sharing the ball. And with a team on the floor with eight new guys and only two guys who had any rotational minutes last year, the way we played together is something we’re going to focus on talk about and work on all the time. For our first effort, I thought it was really good that way.”

On how big of a step Kugel has taken: 

Golden: “He’s made a huge jump. It’s really in his consistency. At times last year, you saw the ceiling and how well he can play, whether it was when he had [24] at home against Kentucky or when he carried us down the stretch to wins at Georgia and against LSU at home. But, for us, the way he’s practicing has been super consistent in going really, really hard and really raises the level of our team. He’s just playing at a really, really high level and being really efficient, unselfish, smart and competing really hard on both ends. He had a great rebounding performance on Saturday, which was really encouraging. It’s just what we expect in our program. When guys go from freshman to sophomore, we expect them to make a really big jump. He’s doing that.”

On scoring 50 points in the paint vs UM:

Golden: “We shared it really well. We played out of the pick-and-roll really well most of the day. We had a lot of assists. We had a lot of baskets close to the rim that are high-percentage baskets. Our depth up front really showed. Rece and Micah started. Our freshman came in and really did a great job carrying the load as well. Again, that was one of the encouraging things. We didn’t shoot it great, but we were able to be efficient and finish around the rim.”

On Florida’s transition game:

Golden: “I thought we got out really well, I didn’t think we got back well enough. It would have been our highest-possession game of the season last year. So I think it’s going to take us a little bit of team to be solid on both ends that way. We’re not where we need to be defensively, by any means, and I’d rather it be that way now, rather than January or February, so we’ll work on that. The pace was there. It’s something we’ve been harping on and focusing on. I know our staff was happy with the way we played. But, again, it’s our players. Walter Clayton deserves a lot of credit. He did a great job of getting the ball up the floor, but he wasn’t’ the only one. Zyon was great that way. Riley, Zell and Will, the guys primarily in the backcourt, did a great job of pushing it and sharing it.”

On team chemistry:

Golden: “Obviously, with EJ (Jarvis) leaving and some different things, in a way, our team has kind of sorted itself out pretty early, which is not a luxury we had last year. With guys kind of understanding what their roles are and what the responsibilities are, I think it’s a lot easier to get comfortable and a lot easier to enjoy other people’s success and that’s what it felt like. When guys that were starting on the bench, they were the first ones up. And I thought our bench did a great job bringing energy. Obviously, we’ve watched the game, we go back and watch it. And in the second half, you’re on offense in front of your own bench and you see the reactions of our players was really encouraging.”

On how key it is to have big men moving the ball:

Golden: “The way we want to play, I think it’s really, really important ‘cause we want all five guys to be decision-makers. A big part of being a decision-maker is not turning the ball over when you touch it. So, I think our bigs has 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and close to 10 assists combined. And they found easy baskets for guys. Again, all four of those guys that played in the front court can really pass it and really have good feel and good understanding of the game. So again, that was that was what I walked away from most pleased with was the way we moved the ball. We did a really good job that way.” 

On how the freshmen played vs. Miami:

Golden: “Well. You know, felt like they answered the bell. They played a good amount. One of them played over 20 minutes. One of them played about 15 minutes. We didn’t drop when they were in the game. Early on, they did a great job for us with their energy. Tommy did a great job in the glass. I thought Condo played a pretty good overall game. And they’re guys that are young, but we’re going to count on him and they delivered on Saturday for sure.” 

On Joakim Noah visiting the team:

Golden: “It was special. It was really awesome. We talk a lot about the history and tradition of our program, and it’s one of the things that we really sell when we recruit is we want guys that want to become a part of that. And so, when Jo came by and visited with a lot of the younger guys it was really impactful. He shared some messages with the team. My favorite thing he said to the team was simply do your job. Do your job. And you know when a multiple all-NBA, NBA All-Star guy that’s made over $100 million in the NBA comes with a simplistic message like that to the team it resonates. It was really neat.” 

On the depth of the rotation:

Golden: “I think nine is a reasonable number for this group, especially with the way we want to play. Like maybe one less one game one more one game. But that nine number is kind of where it lands right now.” 

On Riley’s improved rebounding:

Golden: “He’s really picked it up that way. And, again, his effort on Saturday was fantastic that way. And, obviously, if he rebounds well, it changes the complexion of our team, helps us in a lot of different ways. Obviously cleaning up the glass within our transition push. When he gets it, a guy that’s so athletic, so fast, can take the first dribble or two and then throw ahead it into some explosive plays for us. So he’s starting to really understand the value of that, not only for our team, but for himself. He’s trying to be really good that way.” 

On what he wants to see in the next two weeks before the opener:

Golden: “Yeah, just kind of continuing on this trajectory that we’re on right now. We need to stay healthy, I think that’s really important. We’re not the deepest team right now but, like I said, our gelling and continuity are really good. Our guys have been playing really good and now it’s about getting incrementally better over the next few weeks. I feel like our baseline is good and if we continue to grow a little bit each day, then we should be pretty dang good by the time November rolls around.”

On the competition to crack Florida’s rotation:

Golden: “It’s tricky right now. We have Kajus (Kublickas). We have Julian (Rishwain) getting close to coming back. We have [Aleks Szymczyk] on his way back. Those are the three guys that really can crack in there and they’re all good enough to play. I’s not a concern about that. It’s just, you know, the group we have now is going pretty good.”

On how the preseason went:

Golden: “Good. Like I said, I just feel like our summer prepared us better for this year than last. We didn’t do a whole lot last summer and I just felt like we were kind of behind the whole time just trying to get comfortable and just trying to catch up. Then you run into the season and we played some tough games and it’s hard to build confidence. We’re just a lot further along with the growth of this team than we were. I would say it’s been a good one for us so far.”

On facing two D1 opponents in the preseason:

Golden: “I just think the competition is really important. Not taking any competition lightly but bringing in a lower-level team, I’m not sure how much that does for us whereas going down and playing Miami, I know that does a lot for us. That’s going to be one of the best offensive teams we see all year. FIU this weekend, another different style of play. A team that likes to press, that likes to run up and down and will be another challenge for us in taking care of the ball and doing different things. You can kind of give yourself a little test run in some areas, which I think can really help us.”

On whether or not Florida’s performance against Miami surprised him:

Golden: “Yeah, a little bit. I think just being on the road, we bussed down on Friday. You never know what effort you’re going to get. This is a new group and it’s their first time playing someone else and I feel like we’ve had a good offseason and the ability to where I’m like, ‘Alright, this team has a chance.’ But to go out and then perform that way is a completely different step in the right direction. I was definitely pleased for sure.”

On what Tyrese Samuel brings to the team:

Golden: “He’s just a really good player. He’s a veteran, played in the NCAA Tournament before, a guy who averaged double figures in the Big East, so he’s not scared out there. He’s a guy who really understands the game and he’s really good with the ball, he’s really efficient. I think he only missed one shot on Saturday and he scored a good amount. Really impactful player.”

On whether or not 3-point defense is where he wants it to be:

Golden: “No.”

On whether or not it can ever get there:

Golden: “I hope so! But, again, Miami is really good that way. They spread you out, they put you in precarious situations and make you decide what you want to take away. To Miami’s credit, I feel like when we broke down defensively, they really took advantage of it. They didn’t let us off the hook. As you guys know, I talk about it a lot, we really want to guard the 3 well and with our size on the back line, I think it’s something we should be good at and funnel some things like we did last year with Colin. It’s not anywhere near where it needs to be but I’m glad it’s something we can work on and improve upon in the next two weeks for sure.”

On Aleks Szymczyk coming back from injury:

Golden: “I think his rehab has been good, you know. I expect him to be really excited about getting back and attacking the rehab. He’s out of the boot, now it’s just about getting in shape and getting strong. I’m not sure how quickly he’ll be ready to go, I think Julian’s ahead of him. I think we’ll see Julian before we see Shimmy. My hope is somewhere around the middle of November, maybe that third week of November we’ll get Shimmy back. But it’ll help, you know, having another body there will be beneficial for us, for sure.”

On UF’s offensive rebounding in the scrimmage:

Golden: “We did a good job on the glass, both ends, but specifically on the offensive end, and that’s an area we want to be a strength for this team. You know, the way we’re playing, the personnel, an area where we think that we can be pretty good. So for us to be able to go out and do it – obviously Miami is not super big, they’re not, you know, they’re a fantastic team, but, like, they’re not super physical, so we’re gonna have to do it against more physical teams as well. But again, for the opportunity that we had, I thought we did a good job that way.”

On Zyon Pullin’s rebounding ability being a reason UF targeted him:

Golden: “Not really, to be honest. You know, he’s an incredibly smart player, you know, so he is good about being in the right place at the right time, and he can sneak out an extra one every now and again, but just his stability on both sides of the ball is where I think he’ll really help us and where I think he did on Saturday.” 

On how much Samuel has helped the younger bigs prepare for the physicality:

Golden: “Yeah, a ton. And I think a big part of it is they get to go up against each other everyday. And it’s great, both for Condo and for Tommy, to see Tyrese every day, those guys are good players. So it’s iron sharpening iron for those guys, and it’s helped us, for sure.”

On the acceptable number of 3s allowed:

Golden: “It’s more attempts, you know. I think it’s about containing the amount of attempts they get, you know, because once the ball’s in the air there’s only so much you can do when you’re guarding the three-point line. We want to run them off, we want to follow them up, make them take those tough twos at the rim, so, you know, multiple games we don’t want to see more than 20 attempts from 3, and we didn’t achieve that on Saturday. A lot of possessions though, so that was part of it, but we still want to get that number down a little bit.” 

On whether we could see UF’s defense trapping:

Golden: “Yeah, I mean, we’ll keep everything on the table. Traps, zone, press, you know, all those different things, but yeah, I just feel like this team has the capacity to take on a lot. So, you know, there’s certain teams where being able to double the post is important, there’s certain teams when doubling the ball-screen is important, you know, we want to be able to do all those different things to counteract their talent. So I want our guys to have the ability to kind of throw out different looks at teams, for sure.”

On being concerned about pace relative to how many attempts the other team gets:

Golden: “I mean, if you can play that way and take care of the ball, and play with efficiency that we did, pace is going to be really good for us, you know. You start getting yourself into trouble when maybe you start taking bad shots or you’re getting loose to the ball and giving them easy run-outs and stuff like that, but I do think the strength of our team is ball-handling and ball-security, and if we can take advantage of that, as well getting the number up in terms of the pace and the way we’re playing, I think that’s going to benefit us for the long run, for sure.”