Todd Golden lauds Will Richard, UF's defense & free throws vs. MSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida won its second straight game in SEC play Wednesday with a 79-70 victory over Mississippi State in Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

UF built a 17-point lead and staved off MSU’s rally with 10 straight points at the foul line. The Gators went 17-for-20 from the charity stripe, including 13-for-14 in the second half.

“Who’s asking about free throws tonight?” Florida coach Todd Golden quipped at the beginning of his post-game press conference.

Here is everything Golden said about the season-high performance from Will Richard, his team’s free throw shooting, defensive effort and more.

Todd Golden Q&A

On how critical the late free throws were down the stretch:

Golden: “They were very critical. We were obviously, you know, the game flow was kind of going their way in that moment, and obviously we played really, really well. We had a 17-point lead with about eight minutes to go, and, listen, they’re a really good team. There’s going to be some runs, you know, they hadn’t shot it well most of the night and then I think they hit two or three threes on, you know, three or four possessions, and, you know, we got caught in a little bit of an area where you want to break the press, you want to stay aggressive, but at the same time, you’ve got a big lead, you don’t want to be too aggressive. And I think to their credit, they played with no fear of failure, you know, the final eight minutes of the game and we tightened up a little bit. On me, I need to make sure my guys understand I want them to be aggressive and attack in those moments. But, with that being said, you know, six points with the ball, Condo makes his, like you guys said, eight to 10 free throws down the stretch to ice it, and never allowed them to get super, super tight in the final four minutes. But this was a huge win for us, you know, and one that will travel for us, and they’re a very physical, very good team. They’re very old, a lot of guys that have SEC experience, and we felt that the first four minutes of the game. We couldn’t grab a rebound, and, a little concerning, but I thought after those first four, you know, from that 16-minute mark in the first half to that eight-minute mark in the second half we played some really, really good basketball, and now obviously we want to strive to play 40, but, you know, it’s not always gonna happen against good teams, but I’m really, really pleased with the win.”

On how encouraging the free throw shooting was this past week: 

Golden: “Very, you know, and with Condo making four, you know, Micah, a little help from the board on the first one and then made the second one cleanly. And then our guards, you know, for most of the year they’ve been pretty good from the line. They haven’t really been an issue for us, so, you know, all part of becoming a more complete team, and I still think we have more in us from the perimeter. We went 8-for-25 tonight, I thought we got some good looks, you know, as the game was tightening up that we just didn’t knock down, but, again, satisfied with the result.”

On the frontcourt players hindering the three-point percentage: 

Golden: “Yes they did, but you know what, I thought Condo took a good one in the first half, Micah’s was fine, it was a little quick. I thought ‘Rese’s was good, it was a good pick-and-pop, one that I’m comfortable with him taking, you know, especially early in the game. And you have to live with it a little bit when those go in, obviously they’re game-changers, and, yeah.”

On Will Richard’s impressive first half and his all-around performance: 

Golden: “I think he had his best game as a Gator tonight, for sure. 23 points, nine rebounds, four on the offensive glass, created some second-chance opportunities for us early in the game. That led to some points and got us going a little bit, hit some big threes. He hit a huge three in that run, a little shot-fake, side-step, banged it. But, you know, to your point, 23 points, nine rebounds on the glass, two steals, two blocks, plus-nine. He gave us a really, really great game tonight, and I think he’s continuing to get more comfortable getting into SEC play, and he’s been playing pretty well. I expect him to continue to do that.” 

On the ball moving well vs. MSU: 

Golden: “Yeah, the way they play, you know, they’re hard to score against and they switch a little bit, they do different things give to contain you and our big thing tonight on the offensive end, as simple as it sounds, but it’s a recurring theme of this team that we have this year, is just to get a shot. Let’s make sure we get shots. I think we had eight turnovers at Missouri. I think it’s seven tonight. That’s a great recipe for success in this league. Just take care of the ball. ZP, you know, that’s who it starts with, played 34 minutes tonight, no turnovers and he’s handling the ball a ton. Walter only had two, Will had one, Riley had one so our perimeter did a really good job taking care of it. And, if we can keep that number at or below — 12 is really our goal — if we keep that number at around 10, we’re going to have a lot of success for this team. 

On the importance of volume of 3-point shots: 

Golden: “Yes, simply because Mississippi State gives up a lot of three-point attempts. You know, they’re one of the leading teams in the country in terms of allowing three point attempts, although they have one of the best three point percentage defenses in the country, which we talked about the other day. But, you know, they do at times provide good look so you got to take advantage of it. I thought even in the second half, we had some where we passed on some looks. Walt passed up one, I thought Riley passed on one, on when we got to let those fly a little bit, especially with whatever the offensive rebound. But, you know, I thought 25, that was a good number. And, you know, obviously, we got it done.”

On defending Tolu Smith: 

Golden: “Listen, he went five-for-12, 10 points and four turnovers. That’s about as well as anybody’s guarded him all year, you know, and he got us early a little bit, but we doubled him and made him see bodies every time he had catches and, you know, we felt like if we didn’t allow him to get as close to the rim as he wanted that it would run them off the line. He only shot two free throws, I think during the first media of the game, you know, and I think everything you can do to get him away from the basket will make you more successful and the double bothered him. Bother him, force some turnovers, it just made him not as aggressive on his catches going to the rim. You know, if we see them again, in conference tournament I feel like they’ll probably be more ready for that. We haven’t really trapped or doubled the post a lot this year. But you know, against really, really talented scorers like him, it’s something got to do.”

On getting Walter Clayton Jr. back down the stretch:

Golden: “He is an incredibly tough young man. I’ve said this a lot about him, but you know, kind of the heartbeat of our team from a competitive standpoint. He’s never afraid to fail. He’s gonna go out swinging and, you know, we’re obviously a little nervous when he went out. You know, obviously, was able to play through a little bit of pain, we’ll see tomorrow how bad it is, but that would be a huge loss for us if he has to be out for a little bit but he wanted to be out there. I think he met with our trainer and with the doctors, and you know, they were willing to tape him up and get him back out there and he did really your job down the stretch in securing the win for us.”

On if the defensive rotations have improved in SEC play:  

Golden: “We’re definitely more connected on the defensive end now then we were two, three weeks ago. I didn’t do a good enough job early in the year on emphasizing that end, we really wanted to focus on getting out and playing fast and scoring a lot, which is fun but at the end of the day you’ve got to get stops to win games, we really made a concerted effort, really after the Mississippi game, where we weren’t nearly good enough on that end to improve, come back, beat Arkansas, play well on the defensive end, at Tennessee, the result was not good but I thought our effort and our intent was a lot better on the defensive end, and I thought we had a really good effort at Missouri that way even though Bates got us a little bit and we held them to under 40 from the field and under 30 from 3, that’s a good recipe for success. So yeah we gotta keep it up and I think Georgia is going to be a really big challenge on that end for us because of the way they play, they spread you out a little bit they’ve got shooting at the 4, which is always is unique with Tyrese and our bigs guarding that, so we’re going to have to do that again in Saturday if we want to make sure we have a big time week.” 

On the team’s three-point defense over last 8 games, 27 percent, what are you doing better there: 

“I think we’re being a lot more mindful and a lot, just, more mentally tough in terms of executing coverages, and executing the scout, you know, Walter is a guy who deserves a lot of the credit for that, at times early on in the year he would gamble a little bit off the ball, and leave some guys that we didn’t want to get shots up available, and he’d been a lot better with his concentration on that end over the last two weeks, it starts with him, ZP is good that way, and you know like Hubbard who is a really good player, awesome to watch, reminds me a little bit of Jared Harper, the guy that played at Auburn back in the day, or Earl Boykins for guys that remember a NBA guy that could get his shot off whenever he wanted and you know, ZP is a tough guy to shake, he does a great job staying attached to shooters, and staying in his body and he was still able to get 17 3s up now obviously he didn’t shoot a good percentage and I think a lot of those were tougher shots. He got 26 points but it was a little inefficient he had to take 25, so, live with that a little bit, the one thing we didn’t do well enough was just finishing possessions with rebounds, we gave them 22 offensive rebounds, allowed them to chuck and duck a little bit down the stretch and not pay for some of those tough shots but there’s always things you can point to to improve at and get better at but I definitely think our 3-point defense is going the right way.”