Todd Golden previews Florida-Mississippi State, recaps Mizzou win

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After back-to-back road games, the Gators (12-6, 2-3 SEC) are back home Wednesday against Mississippi State (13-5, 2-3) at 8:30 p.m. on SEC Network. The Bulldogs upset Tennessee in Starkville on Jan. 10 but have lost their first two SEC away games, while Florida won its road contest in league play on Saturday at Missouri.

Here is everything UF coach Todd Golden said about the Gators’ win against the Tigers and their next matchup against MSU.

Todd Golden Q&A

On the win at Missouri:

Golden: “I told our guys that was the best execution job on the road by a lot. Obviously, we struggled with our first two league games on the road. Wake Forest? OK. Missouri, the two main things we knew we needed to do to give ourselves a great chance was keep them out of transition offensively. In the second half we did a great job with that. And we had to take care of the ball. Those two things really went together. We only had eight turnovers for the game. So, when you execute your two main goals like that you give yourself a really good chance. I thought they really maintained poised. They were guarding our ball screens pretty aggressive, and we did a good job of taking care of the ball. We wanted to get shots every time down. I just through we controlled the game. Once we got a little bit of a lead in the second half, generally, on an opponent’s home floor they’re going to make some runs and you’re going to have to hang on to it a little bit. But our guys did a good job of finishing it from start to finish in the second half. I feel like that’s the kind of game we can build on, obviously, for these two home contests, but as we go back on the road next week as well.”

On facing Dalton Knecht, Tamar Bates and now Tolu Smith III:

Golden: “They’re good players. Bates was exceptional and we did a good job of limiting him to mid-range. That was something for the majority of our games we’re going to live with. I thought they way we guarded him really allowed to lock up on shooters. Specifically, Nick Honor, [Sean] East and [Noah] Carter. They only had three 3s all game. At times you have to lose the battle to win the war. I think that’s what happened on Saturday with Tamar Bates – but To is going to be a challenge. He’s obviously playing really, really well coming back from injury. He’s getting back up from that 27-29 minute range. He’s averaging about 17 a game. We’re going to have to do a really good job of guarding in the post and keeping him away from the rim. And more than anything, being physical with him. We can’t let him get comfortable down in there. We’ll have a couple different looks for him to hopefully kind of keep him off balance.”

On a season-high 30 minutes from Micah Handlogten at Mizzou:

Golden: “I think he played his best game; at least over the last few weeks for sure, especially with his physicality. I thought he did a great job, for sure, just handling the ball through pressure. There were a couple times he got the ball in baseline-out-of-bounds in a tough spot and stepped through the trap and made great plays. He made a couple great plays around the rim with putbacks, like he always does. I thought, defensively on the glass, he did a great job of owning the backboard, especially in the second half. When he plays like that the gives us  a different element that we can rally around. He got on the floor for that loose ball at the beginning of the second half, got it to Walt who kicked it to Will for a 3 and a momentum swing play that showed up for us. He was a big part of that. I think it’s what you expect from young players. As the season goes on they get better and better. You have to always keep in mind, Micah is a sophomore. He hasn’t played a lot of minutes for us. He’s guy who’s still growing and getting better. Having a lot of youth in the front court is showing up for us in conference games, tat’s going to be exciting moving forward.”

On Handlogten’s consistency with being physical: 

Golden: “It’s a physical League. I think that’s something that he’s getting more and more comfortable with. But I think the one thing people forgot with Micah is he was out for a couple of weeks in late November, early December and ankles are tough to come back from, and I think it took them a little bit to get back comfortable and confident on the court. But he’s been pretty dang good all league. Obviously, he was good against Kentucky on the glass and played pretty well against Arkansas and it then was great against Missouri. I think he’s just kind of getting more confident coming on at the right time for us.” 

On how he’s stepping up to the challenge in the low block: 

Golden: “I think we’ll learn a lot tomorrow night. They’re a physical group, but he’s ready for the challenge. I think he’s doing a really good job, and Coach Hartman is obviously prepping our big guys really well for this SEC game. Like we said, none of our frontcourt played in this league last year. Two of them are freshmen. One of them was a mid- major player or Tyrese was in the Big East. So it’s an adjustment for a lot of our guys, not just for our frontcourt but our backcourt as well. But I feel like our guys are starting to understand what the challenge is on a nightly basis in this league for sure.” 

On his thoughts about Mississippi State: 

Golden: “They are tough, man. They are really tough. Coach Jans has done a really good job with their mentality, their physicality. The one thing I think that Coach Jans deserves credit for in this day and age is they start four guys that played for Ben Howland. So he’s been able to retain a big part of their nucleus for a couple years now. And when you look at Tolu Smith, DJ Jeffries, Cam Matthews, Shakeel Moore, all those guys were part of the previous regime. But they wanted to play for Coach Jans. He’s a good coach and he’s tough, and they’re kind of similar to how they were under Howland. But that continuity has definitely helped them out quite a bit and then you throw in a Jimmy Bell and a Josh Hubbard, now you got a damn good team. That’s what they are right now. When they beat Tennessee, they just beat him. They’re physical. They’re a team that can max their physicality, especially on their home court. They made some timely shots, defended Tennessee really well. I think when you’re one of the better teams in the league, you got to defend your home court, and they did a good job in that game doing that.” 

On Riley Kugel’s dad: 

Golden: “He’s a strong man. It was kind of an interesting/cool situation. And it’s funny. I’ve actually talked to Riley’s dad since then. we had a good laugh about it. You know, the picture that was going around. He said, ‘Man, all I was just trying to do is watch my son play some ball.’ But I think everybody recognizes where Riley gets some of his physicality and his body from, and the I just thought that was kind of neat.” 

On if he has any eligibility:

Golden: “I think he’s done. He played football at Mizzou. I don’t know if his physicality on the basketball court would help as much as on the football field. I don’t know if he’s got the skill that Riley has, but now we know what Riley’s capable to look like body-wise as he continues to get older and mature.”

On the next step for Denzel Aberdeen:

Golden: “I think just a little more consistency offensively. It’s funny, his numbers aren’t amazing in terms of his offensive efficiency or his usage but the score either stays the same or goes the right way when he’s in the game and sometimes there’s a lot of value that you can’t put your finger on analytically with guys, whether it’s comfort with ball-handling or being another guy out there that can guard multiple guys defensively or whatever it is. He played 14 minutes the other night, the score went the right way when he was in there even though he didn’t score and, again, he’s young. He’s a sophomore and I feel like he’s getting more and more comfortable and I’m waiting for a game from him where he breaks out a little bit and hits a couple 3s and makes some big-time plays because we see it every day in practice.”

On Handlogten’s physicality and mentality:

Golden: “Physicality and mentality. I look at the Missouri game and he was running to the fighting that game. Missouri is not the most physical team in our league but they’re athletic, they’re long and they provide a lot of challenges on the offensive glass, and he did a really good job of just owning the defensive backboards. I mentioned it earlier, but that simple play of diving on the floor for a loose ball that sparked a fastbreak and led to a big 3 for us, those are the type of winning plays that when he’s super locked in, that he’s making a lot of for us and he’s also with his second chances. His touch around the rim on offensive rebounds and lobs is honestly just an innate skill that’s just really, really impressive. He had a couple tip-ins and then that awesome play where we moved it and Walter drove and threw it up to [Handlogten] off the glass. I just feel like he’s getting more comfortable. Physicality and mentality, I think those go together and as he continues to get more comfortable; we’ll see that more consistently.”

On whether or not he feels Handlogten is altering shots:

Golden: “Yeah, a little bit, I do. Obviously, he’s big and long. We want to see probably even more shot blocks over the course of the season but the main things I care about are making them miss and not fouling around the rim and altering is definitely there. We have not done a good enough job on the road that way, especially in our first two contests. But we were better against Missouri and at home, knock on wood, we’ve been pretty good that way. I hope it shows up again tomorrow night. Between him and Condo and Rese and even Tommy, Tommy does a really good job around the rim, he’s athletic and long and quick twitched. When those guys are locked in at that end, we’re pretty tough.”

On the balance of contesting shots vs. defending the paint: 

Golden: “Yeah, I think so. We just executed well, you know, in terms of the gameplan, and we went back yesterday and showed our team, like, the keys, we always talk keys and personnel for every game, right, so we showed them the keys again yesterday from the Missouri game, kind of gave them grades for how we were executing in bang, bang, bang, we were pretty dang good. One area was our ball-screen coverage where we were a little inconsistent with our communication, but keeping on transition, yes, take away catch and shoot threes, yes, not turning the ball over, yes, you know, and we keep it simple, you do those things you give yourself a great chance to win. So, you know, our gameplan defensively is gonna be different against Mississippi State, they provide different challenges than Missouri does, but, you know, if we’re able to execute at the same level, we’ll give ourselves a really good chance to win again.”

On what Mississippi State does so well defending the three-point line:

Golden: “They’re very unique, because they give up a lot of 3s, but they do not give up a high percentage, you know, they do have great length and they play really hard. I think they do a good job of flying at shooters, you know, their effort is fantastic on the defensive end, so I think that you got to credit that, you know, that’s not luck. That’s effort, that’s coaching, but I do think when you give up so many threes, you let the volatility come into the game a little bit, and, you know, there’s sometimes where that works in your favor. But there’s sometimes where it doesn’t and, you know, so, you know how I feel about it. We want to limit threes up more than anything else and live with the percentages a little bit. They aren’t as worried about limiting the number, and they’ve defended it well at a high percentage. So, we were actually watching quite a bit of their attempts this morning to see kind of, you know, why that would be the case, you know, and my initial reaction was that their effort and their close-outs and their scrambling is really good. I just think it’s a tricky way to live, you know, when you give up that many threes, and on certain nights, you’re gonna give up a bad percentage. So, I hope that they regress to the mean a little bit tomorrow night, for sure.”

On if that’s something they want to take advantage vs. Mississippi State: 

Golden: “Yeah, I mean, we’re gonna let it fly, you know, when the opportunity provides itself, but, you know, like, I’ll give you examples from the Missouri game. I thought Riley in the first half off of a skip, I can’t remember, I think ZP threw it to him. He had a big guy closing out, shot-fake, side dribble, wide-open three, bangs in the first half. Walter, on Denzel’s offensive rebound, throws out to the top of the key to Walt, guy flying by, shot-fake, one dribble left, shoots it, bangs a three. So I think that’s something that will blow up tomorrow night a little bit, where if we’re poised and can read the defense, we might be able to give ourselves better looks based upon how we treat and play the close-out. But yeah, it’s a little bit of a numbers game and just kind of seeing how good of opportunities you can get, but especially on our home floor, you know, we got to let it fly a little bit and see what happens.”

On getting confidence from hitting 9 three-pointers against Missouri: 

Golden: “Yeah, we shot it well, and I thought we took good shots. Obviously, it helps when Condo throws up a shot-clock three and Riley hits a 30-footer at the shot-clock buzzer, but those things go both ways over the course of the game. Bates had one from about 30 feet with Riley, when Riley had a great contest in his face, so, you know, those kind of go both ways. But again, I just thought our poise and the way we played on Saturday, especially on the road, was much better, was much more under control. Not too high, not too low. They got a good start, they’re up by four, 10 minutes to go in the first half, but we stayed the course, you know, got a little lead at halftime and then did a really good job that first couple minutes of the second half, but it was definitely a performance that we want to build on, and coming back home tomorrow should be a good opportunity to do that.”