Todd Golden previews the Florida Gators matchup against Virginia

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Todd Golden improved to 2-0 in season openers at UF and 17-17 overall with the Gators’ 93-73 win over Loyola Maryland on Monday. His team returns to the court Friday for a neutral-site game against Virginia in Charlotte, N.C.

Here is everything Golden said about the matchup with the Cavaliers, UF’s performance in the opener and more. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. and the game will be televised by ACC Network.

On his review of the season opener:

Golden: “Thought we got off to a great start, a great start. I thought we were really engaged on both ends. Did a really good job of getting out in transition, and then staying with them in all their different actions and forcing some tough 3s. We did a good job of cleaning up the glass. But really the majority of the first half we didn’t guard as well as we needed, the back half of the first half. We held them to 30 points on 37 possessions, which was a pretty good defensive effort that way. Offensively, in the first half, obviously, we didn’t make free throws when we needed to. That slowed us and down and took us out of our rhythm. And in the second half, we got a little lackadaisical defensively. Didn’t stay on it for 40 minutes, like was our hope. Credit to Loyola. They kept coming. Made some nice shots. Had some really nice drives and finishes that were tough to defend. The game never got tight. I would have liked to see us extend it a little more. But overall, I was relatively happy.”

On working on free throw shooting:

Golden: “Practice. Try to put a little pressure on themselves in practice. It’s really hard to make it game like, cause it’s not like a game. When you get out there, there is a little more pressure. The only thing I know to do is drill it, rep it and see if we can get a little more confidence going into this game from the line.”

On facing a pack-line defense:

Golden: “I just think they’re really, really disciplined and do a good job of covering each other up. All five guys defensively are connected. They make it hard to get in the paint and they’re showing and getting back. We played them once before (in 2020). We couldn’t really score in the first half, then did a really good job in the second half trying to take advantage of the way they guard. But this team will be really discipline and we’ll have to do a really good job of executing if we want to have a chance to score on these guys.”

On the challenges of Virginia’s style of play:

Golden: “It’ll be a contrast in styles, for sure. They do play deliberately. They don’t push all the time. They like to play half-court style offensively and we’re trying to put more tempo and pace into the game, so that’s going to be a battle of wills a little bit. That’s something we’re mindful of and something we’re trying to do.”

On Virginia guard Reece Beekman:

Golden: “Just a really, really good player. Been around a long time. I remember when we played them he was a freshman. ACC Player of the Year defensively last year. Someone who has been in a lot of big games and understands what it takes to win at a high level. For them, he’s really important because he’s one of the guys who comes back with experience. Obviously, the leader of their team and someone were going to have to do a good job against if we want to win this game.”

On 2024 signee Isaiah Brown:

Golden: “Love him. Now, Isaiah is our kind of guy. Like we talked about after the Orang e& Blue, we try to be really thoughtful and mindful of who we bring in and try to evaluate guys really well to say if they’re over or underrated. We think Zay is underrated. He’s been really good at OCP for a long time. I thought he was the best player on his AAU team last summer; on a really good AAU team. He’s a guy who wins everywhere he goes and makes everybody better and has a great attitude and great way about it. He’s a fountain. He has a great family and when you start stacking guys like that in your program it’s going to be really good for you. Really happy he’s going to be with us next year.”

On Virginia:

Golden: “Played Tarleton. Got off to a good start. Did a good job of exploiting Tarleton’s mistakes and breakdowns, especially in the halfcourt. They have a lot of new guys and just like us they are still trying to find their way a little bit to see what combinations they’re comfortable with and who they want to have out there. They have good shooters, guys who can get in the paint and make plays. Their front court is unique. They’re not as girthy as normal Virginia teams that way, but they’re dynamic and can do different things. Dunn can put it on the floor, a really good athlete who is quick and can make plays. Groves can step out and make 3s, which is something we have to be mindful of because they give you different looks that way. Buchanan, their young freshman, is good athlete and a good player. It’s going to be interesting. It might take a little bit for each team to figure each other out because they’re so many new guys out there.”

On playing a neutral site game:

Golden: “Yeah, and I think it’s more of just the matchup, right, you get Virginia, a team that’s been really good for a really long time, and it will be a great barometer for us to see where we’re at early in the season. Playing in an NBA arena is great as well. When you get to the Tournament, you’re playing in a lot of big arenas, so it’s something that can help you prepare for that. But it’s just going to be a really fun game, man, and it’s a game that we’ve been looking forward to for a long time.”

On the challenge of scouting a team early with so many transfers:

Golden: “Yeah probably equally challenging both ways for both of us, you know, because we’re, both of us have a lot of new in our programs, so we each have one tape. We haven’t seen any other scrimmages, I’m not sure if they’ve seen any of ours, but there’s a little bit of guesswork that goes into it. And obviously we know what Coach Bennett does and how he’s been so successful and what his identity is, especially, on both ends really, so we’ll try to learn from that and prepare that way, but there’s going to be some things that neither of us have seen, and we’ll catch each other off-guard a little bit and then we just gotta adapt and do the best we can the rest of the way.”

On Micah Handlogten‘s performance in the season opener:

Golden: “Yeah I thought a little jittery in his first rotation, and then after was really good, you know, and obviously hitting those 2 threes, but I thought he did some other really nice things, finishing around the rim through contact, you know, wasn’t necessarily ready early for those drop-offs, and then he was the rest of the game. Got a couple dunks and did a good job protecting the rim. And Micah’s only a sophomore, you know, he’s kind of coming into his own and I think he’s only going to just keep on getting better and better, so it’s exciting to see him play so well on his first night.”

On a team that compares to Virginia’s style of play:

Golden: “I think they’re very Saint Mary’s ish with their discipline and the structure and putting team first. They’re programs are similar in terms of not trying — well, all of us are trying to sign the best players we can but they’re very focused on fit and guys that are their types of dudes that defend and play for others. I think that’s an equitable program in terms of similarity.”

On Virginia’s frontcourt:

Golden: “They got Ryan Dunn, who’s on mock drafts and a guy that I would say is a little like Alex Fudge in the sense that he’s really good athlete and defender, a guy who can get by you if you give him a chance, not a guy that’s been a perennially good shooter but he hit a 3 in his first game. Really good defender. (Jake) Groves, we saw him last year at Oklahoma, more of a stretch frontcourt player and those guys are starting together so they’re starting two forwards in the frontcourt and Groves, obviously, really capable of shooting the ball. Easy to play with.”

On whether Leon Bond has caught his eye:

“Yeah, I thought he did a good job on the glass. I think he had three or four, maybe even five offensive rebounds. Really good athlete. A little undersized for the frontcourt, 6-5, but did a good job physicality-wise. I think (Blake) Buchanan is a really good freshman. He’s a guy, similar to Condo, plays super hard and not afraid out there. We heard through the grapevine that he played well in their scrimmages and then Jordan Minor, their last one, the Merrimack transfer, who played about 10-11 minutes in their first game and is another guy who’s had success in college, so we’ll be ready for him as well.”

On the benefit of going to Charlotte this early in the year:

“Yeah, I think it’s helpful, for sure, and, to your point, we go [to Charlotte] twice this year so it will be nice to get in there early. All these games when you’re going neutral and you go play Virginia or Michigan, those are great games. Those are great games. It gives our team a chance to really find out who we are and gain some confidence and Virginia is a team I expect to be in the tournament. They’re that level of a team so you can kind of see where you’re at early on.”

On Alex Condon in the season-opener:

Golden: “He was ready to go. He came in firing and, obviously, banged two shots when he came in the game. Played with a lot of confidence, physicality and dependent upon how the game’s going, he might be the first guy off (the bench), he might not but he’s a guy who I know when we put him in, he’s going to be ready to go. He’s excited to be out there. Not afraid to fail. We’re going to live with some of his mistakes. He’s turned the ball over a little bit and might make some mistakes but when a game plays that hard, you’ll live with it and I’m really happy for him and for us that he played so well in his first game.”

On the importance of ball movement vs. Virginia:

Golden: “Very important. We got to understand that they’re very good in their ball screen coverage and, like I said, they’re disciplined and they cover each other up well and we’re going to have to be really mentally tough and try to break them down and try to get off the first side of the floor and make them guard us 15-20 seconds when we need to to see if we can find that breakdown and take advantage. But they’re disciplined and they’re going to be challenged.”

On Aleks Szymczyk:

Golden: “I’d say similar path to what he was last time we spoke. I’d say I expect him to kind of get back to practice at the end of the month and then hopefully early December maybe get out there and ready to go for some games.”

On allowing Condon to learn from experience:

Golden: “I think for him, especially, because he has good feel. He hasn’t been playing for that long but it’s not like he’s out there doing crazy stuff that doesn’t make sense, he has a really good understanding of the game in a short period of time. Most of his errors are out of aggressiveness, which you can live with. It’s not like he’s cautious and playing off his back foot. He’s out there hooping and he’s going to try to see what he can do. You can live with mistakes of that nature as long as he reins it in when it’s time to rein it in. He’ll continue to get better the more reps he gets.”