‘We need to perform at a high level’: Todd Golden previews Florida-Vandy

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The 24th-ranked Gators look to get back in the win column Saturday against Vanderbilt after their three-game streak was snapped in an overtime loss at Alabama.

Florida is overall 18-8 and 8-5 in league play, while Vandy is 7-19/2-11 SEC. It will be the fifth straight sellout in the O’Dome for a Saturday conference game. Tip is at 1 p.m. on SEC Network.

Here’s everything Florida coach Todd Golden said about the loss in Tuscaloosa, the matchup with Vandy and more.

Todd Golden Q&A

On positives takeaways from Alabama game:

Golden: “Positives, obviously, a really, really tough environment to play in. I feel like from where we were in December and going into conference play and how we performed on the road to where we are now, we have improved a lot. Obviously, winning at Missouri was the first step and winning at Kentucky was the second step. Fell a little short against Alabama, but I thought we did a really good job of competing at a high level. The disappointing? The glass. We’d been really, really good all year and for the first time all year we got beat up pretty good on the glass. I think we were [minus-10] or something. For me, that was really the difference in the game. Both teams did a great job of taking care of the ball. Both shot it the same efficiency level. And so, the only other area there is rebounding, and they had a 10-spot advantage on us. We tell our guys all the time that every rebound is worth a point, so that’s a big delta we couldn’t clear. Again, it’s really, really hard to win on the road, especially against ranked opponents. You see a team like UConn, arguably the best team in our game, go into Creighton and get beat up. So proud of the way we competed, disappointed in the result, but I feel if we can continue to challenge ourselves in those situations moving forward – our next one will be at South Carolina, in terms of being on the road – and now it’s about taking care of things on our home floor.”

On the Mo Wague suspension:

Golden: “We got a notification from the league yesterday. I think everybody would have liked for it to be handled in real time a little better. Obviously, during the game, the foul was called on Alex and that was tough to swallow. But the speed of the game is quick. People make mistakes. Credit to the league and Mike Eades, director of officials, for addressing it. Obviously, the suspension and hopefully the Alabama player learned from it.” 

On what upset him in the moment:

Golden: “I thought in real time, I was upset they called the foul on Alex. I thought he did a good job of being the first to the floor and getting his hand on the ball. We saw multiple bodies diving in there. When we came out of that scrum with the foul on Alex, I was really confused. That’s why I was upset.”

On if Condon told him he took an elbow to the head:

Golden: “Not in the moment. I knew he’d gotten hit because he got up and it was really his neck kind of getting twisted around. But in the heat of the moment, the game is going a million miles an hour, it wasn’t something we noticed as far as the intent until after the game.” 

On Condon showing the toughness to keep playing: 

Golden: “Yeah, absolutely. It’s just another example of his toughness and his ability to play through different circumstances. He didn’t come out of the game, kept powering through, played really well again. Really, really tough young man for sure.”

On if Wednesday was an outlier with rebounding:

Golden: “I don’t think it was fluky. I think our staff, specifically Coach Hardman who had the scout, did a really good job of articulating to our team that although they play relatively undersized that they’re a really good offensive rebounding team, talking about a lot of 3s lead to long rebounds and highlighted continually that they have one of the best crashing backcourts in America. So, the message was sent. I thought we lacked physicality on some block-outs in the first half and then they made some good plays. They’re a unique team in terms of the way they crash, and I think we’ll be more mindful of it because of the experience the next time we play. But we just got to be better on the glass. That’s how I walked away from that game.”

On Riley Kugel’s season-low 3 minutes: 

Golden: “More just a flow of our team and where we’re at in preparation the day before, the day of the game, and which guys I thought would give us a better chance to win. Riley, when he’s with it and locked in, he gives us a great chance. I think Saturday could be that day for us also, but it was more just kind of a flow of the game and other guys playing really well and obviously our team playing really well that he just got squeezed on Wednesday.”

On what he’s seen from Vanderbilt: 

Golden: “They’re a unique team. They have three what I consider really good players — Ezra Manjon, Tyrin Lawrence and Ven-Allen Lubin. Those guys are impact players and are going to be really hard to guard. The thing that concerns you is their ability to shoot. They have multiple guys, the 2s, 3s and even their 4s that can really poke it and can spread you out a little bit similar to the Georgia scout that way, with (Jabri) Abdur-Rahim and (RJ) Melendez playing in the frontcourt. So just making sure with our bigger lineups that we defend the 3-point line and do a good job of not letting them come into here and try to bomb us. That’s the biggest concern and then they’ve good guards. Manjon and Lawrence are really good players and they bothered us a lot last year, so we’re going to have to do a good job on those guys tomorrow.”

On the challenge of playing a team that’s outmanned: 

Golden: “Kind of just continuing to look at the big picture in terms of, you know, our goals of making the NCAA Tournament and advancing to the Tournament and getting ourselves in position to have success in the conference tournament with seeding and everything like that. So, we have a ton of things to play for and you have to win the games to put yourselves in good position to do that, and Vandy has our respect. They played Alabama really well on their home floor, had a chance to beat them late. They played Tennessee really well on their home floor. They’ve had a couple of tough games in a row, but they’ve proven the capacity to compete at a high level in our league, even though their win-loss record’s not great. So, you know, this team, at this level – I think our team has matured in our approach in a way, you know, regardless of opponent, we’ve come out and competed pretty well, and we can’t be any different tomorrow. We got to make sure we come out and respect but not fear Vanderbilt.”

On if there’s anyone else UF can play in the rotation at this point in the season: 

Golden: “I think we’re pretty set. Julian’s still dealing with some injuries, so I’m not sure he’s gonna be ready to help us. Honestly, Kajus is ready, I think he’s a guy that we could throw in and he can be fine, you know, playing some minutes, you know. Denzel is a guy that’s coming on, and although he’s not shot the ball great in games, you know, he’s kind of kept us in a good flow and kept the points going the right way. So, again, I expect Riley to be an impact player tomorrow, and if he’s not, I think Denzel will be ready to go. And you know, four or five guys, I think Tommy could steal some minutes at the three, which can help us on the perimeter also. So, I think we have the personnel. We need to perform at a high level tomorrow.” 

On how he determines if someone’s able to play a significant role: 

Golden: “I would say, you know, we go into each game with each game with an idea of who we want to play, but there’s definitely some feel, you know, and just out there seeing how certain guys are competing or having success, or not having success. Obviously certain teams dictate different matchups that make more sense, but we really, we’re playing 9 guys right now, Denzel being that 9th and then Kajus being our 10th. So, it’s going to be some semblance of that, you know, that nucleus that’s playing all the minutes. Obviously ZP and Walt, they’re going to be out there a lot, you know, they’re guys that are playing at a really, really high level. They complement each other really well, and they control the game really well, and our frontcourt’s pretty consistent. So, it’s really, Will’s been really good giving us good minutes, you know, Riley with the exception of the Alabama game has been good, so, you know, we feel good about the rotation. We’ve just got to keep going and keep getting better.”

On if Alabama playing with more bigs contributed to the rebounding disparity: 

Golden: “Maybe a little bit, you know, I think it probably helped us a little bit too just in terms of guarding them. They didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half, and I think probably having Wrightsell out was a reason for that, but I know Nate well enough to know he wants to spread you, he wants to have somebody at the four that can really, really shoot. I don’t think that’s how they exactly want to play all the time, so I think that probably kind of took them out of their rhythm early on. Obviously, they got it going in the second half and really started shooting well, but we weren’t upset, you know, when we saw they were playing bigger. That kind of helped us a little bit.”

On his team’s ability to keep playing when the whistles aren’t going their way:

Golden: “I think we’ve gotten better that way. I think early on in the year we were a little too emotional about officiating and we allowed it to take us out of our game a little bit. But once we got through really the Ole Miss game, I thought that was a good learning experience for us where we got pounded and it was like, ‘Listen, we’ve got to step it up. If we don’t change our approach and change our mentality in these games, it’s going to be really tough to have success.’ Even though we didn’t play particularly well at Tennessee, I thought our mentality was better and then at Missouri we incrementally improved. Keep in mind Will and Riley are the only two guys who really played in the SEC last year. It’s a much different league than even the Big East, which Tyrese played in. It’s very physical, it’s very athletic and once we kind of got ourselves balanced, I think we’ve been better that way in terms of playing through the officiating and not allowing it to affect our mentality.”

On the Vanderbilt game being an opportunity to get right:

Golden: “Yeah, I think any time we can play in the O’Dome in front of a sold-out crowd, it’s just an awesome opportunity. Our fans have supported us incredibly well all year. I feel like coming and selling this Vandy game out a week or two before the game is another example of their support of us and our guys have done a really good job in our building of taking in that support and playing with great energy and enthusiasm. Vandy provides plenty of challenges, especially with the way they play offensively and us having to guard them. But we have to be ourselves too and we have to come out and be really aggressive in transition, push tempo, play really physically, play aggressively. If we do that, we should give ourselves a pretty good shot.”

On 3-point defense at Alabama:

Golden: “I think in the first half they got 18 up, which is probably too many, but I think it was more toward the guys we were OK with shooting them that were taking them so that number was going to be a little higher. The second half, it kind of went the other way. The number went down in terms of the attempts, but it was more toward Walters and Griffen and Sears, the guys that they wanted to get those shots. So, first half, too many attempts but the right guys and second half, did a better job but the wrong guys.”

On Florida’s shot selection at Alabama:

Golden: “I thought it was great. We’re going to live with some midranges because we’re so good on the glass. Our biggest thing with this team is taking care of the ball and getting a shot. We scored 93. We’re scoring. We’re top 10 in offense. Shot selection-wise, I’m always going to err on taking care of the ball and getting a shot over being hyper-critical of what exact shot our guys are taking. When you have guys like ZP and Walt, you’re going to let that play, whether it’s rim, midrange, 3, really any shot they get up is a good shot for us, not only because they have great shot-making but also because of how good we are on the glass. I’m going to be less critical of exactly which shot we’re taking and more critical about making sure we get a shot every time down the floor.”

On what Will Richard should be shooting from 3:

Golden: “I think he was 40 last year from 3 in league. I think 35-40 is what he is and I think he’s a little down but I still feel like it’s going in every time he lets it fly and he hit some big ones in the second half against Bama. He’s a guy that we can be talking about a week from now and it’s up to 37 because he had two big games Saturday and Wednesday. Let’s hope that’s the case.”