Todd Golden previews Florida's regular season finale at Vandy

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Gators look to cap their regular season on a strong note Saturday in Nashville, visiting Vanderbilt just 14 days after defeating the Commodores, 77-64, at home. Florida enters this weekend’s game on the heels of a 105-87 win against No. 16 Alabama.

Here’s everything UF coach Todd Golden said about the rematch with Vanderbilt, tournament time approaching and more. Tip is at 4:30 PM on SEC Network.

Todd Golden Q&A

On alter prep for tournament time:

Golden: “I don’t know that there’s much switching that needs to be done. Just the way we approach things, it’s not going to be any different just because it turns into single-elimination in the tournament. We try to be as consistent as possible with our approach and the way we go about our preparation. It’ll be a new setting, obviously, and kind of a new situation for us, but honestly I don’t think much changes about it.”

On playing in Vanderbilt’s arena:

Golden: “Just a different environment. Not much you can do to prepare yourself for sitting on the baseline. We’ll go there and have a walk-through and work the sideline a little bit. But it’s just unique a little bit, communicating with your staff and players is a little different. But it’s something that everybody in the league that goes there on the road has to deal with. I don’t want to make too much out of it. It’ll be another part of the game. But it’ll be unique, for sure.” 

On the challenges Vandy presents:

Golden: “First thing, I think they play really hard. If you watch the game against Kentucky the other night, they were only down five at halftime. They led for most of the first half. Their main three are playing even better than the first time around; Majon, Lawrence and Ven-Allen Lubin, I think are averaging about 55 points over the last three games. So that trio is effective that way. I think we still have to do a good job of defending the 3-point line. That’s a way they ran away from us last year, by getting good 3s and knocking them down. But that three-headed monster has been a little more aggressive. So being mindful of that and making sure we take  care of that, especially in the middle of the floor, ‘cause a lot of their sets are ball screens.”

On how much full-court pressure he expects:

Golden: “Vanderbilt does a lot of things defensively and you have to be ready for all of it. Whether it’s press or quick trap or whether they try to turn us over in the backcourt, they run a lot of different kinds of zones and they play man-to-man pretty much like everybody else. We had a really good day yesterday working on those things and today will be similar. We just have to be able to read and react a little bit, and be able to change up if they do switch defenses on us. Again, I think we’ll be ready for it, simply because we’ve been working on it.” 

On the season Florida had on its home court:

Golden: “You know what? It was awesome and it says a lot about this place, and the fact that we were able to get going a little bit and have some success, the city, the alums and everybody around the university will get behind you. To your point, most of our league games were sold out. I’ve talked to a lot of people, and they thought the Bama game was the best environment in the O’Dome in a long time. That’s exciting. It’s really good for our program to the positivity and support around it, especially with the hard work that our guys and staff have put in. Our goal is to continue it and keep building and not being satisfied with where we are and know that it’s really hard to keep building and continuing to improve. But we’re headed in the right direction and we want it to keep going.”

On Carlin Hartman’s postgame tweet: 

Golden: “It’s one of his best qualities, man. He’s a super loyal guy, you know, someone who takes a lot of pride in the work we do in here on a day-to-day basis. And, hey listen, I know he has my back and I love that guy, and he’s a big reason why we’re successful here.”

On Hartman having that tweet saved in drafts:

Golden: “It’s, you know, we don’t try to keep receipts, but obviously you know it’s nice to have success. This place is, part of what makes it great is the passion, you know, that surrounds the program on both sides, whether, you know, when people are supporting you or the people that aren’t. But people care, you know. And I think that’s really unique and especially in college, to have that type of environment is unique. And like I said, I love him, he has my back, and he loves being here too.”

On if he harps on intensity after an emotional win: 

Golden: “It’s tough, you know. Tuesday was obviously really emotional. I think Wednesday all of us were pretty spent, you know, it’s hard to go get some rest after a game like that. Fortunately had kind of an extra day off that way. Yesterday’s practice was pretty good, all things considered. We’re going to need to turn up another notch today to make sure we’re ready to go tomorrow, but obviously that’s the biggest challenge, and kind of turning the page after a win like that is making sure we’re ready to go that next game. And that’s been a strength of ours all year, we’ve performed pretty well regardless of the circumstances, and the goal is to do it again on Saturday and see if we can be consistent that way.”

On Will Richard’s daily preparation and his attitude: 

Golden: “Yeah, he’s a great example of what we want all our guys to be like, you know, in the way they approach their work. He’s in the gym a ton, we don’t have to beg him to get in there and work on his game, he’s in the weight room all the time, you know, always going really, really hard. And where he’s made a jump as a leader is like he’s been more vocal this year,and having more pride in being a leader of this team, you know, not being afraid to do that. And, you know, I talked about a lot in terms of, you know, with shooters, there’s gonna be times of inconsistency and volatility. As I mentioned to you guys the last time, I said we could be looking at this in a week and say ‘Hey, he’s up to 37%’ and then he goes out and has a game like he did against ‘Bama where he’s 8-for-12 from the field, and I’m not sure what he was from three but I know he shot it well. 3-for-5, and he looks like one of the best players on the court. He’s just playing at a really, really high level. So, you know, our staff, me specifically, has an insane amount of belief in him, not only because of what he does on the floor but because of who he is as a person, who he is as a leader for our program.”

On Richard settling into a leadership role: 

Golden: “Well, I mean, we had to get to know each other, right, a little bit too. And, you know, he was the first guy we signed when we got here, but he hadn’t played for us before, and, you know, last year was a great learning experience for all of us. And I think coming back with the new guys involved and getting everybody on the same page, he felt more confident in that ownership and being a leader, because he had been through the program for the year and knew what the expectation was. So, you know, he’s a really bright dude, has a great understanding of what winning is about, and he’s a huge reason why we’ve been successful.” 

On Richard’s ability to play through shooting struggles:

Golden: “I think that’s part of the biggest growth he’s made is last year in games and even earlier this year, to be honest. When he wasn’t shooting the ball great, he would gamble a little more defensively or try to turn the defensive end into offense not in ways that we really want to. It’s a big jump he’s made in conference play. Regardless of whether he’s shooting the ball great or not, he’s still been really consistent defensively. He’s been blocking out well. His rebounding numbers are down a little bit but a big part of that is because our fours and fives are better rebounders and they’re grabbing more of the balls than guys did last year and he’s just doing his job to help us win.”

On the balance of something to play for versus fear of injury against Vanderbilt:

Golden: “We want to get to 22 wins before the SEC Tourney so we’re treating Vandy just like we treated Alabama on Tuesday night with our preparation and approach. We’re going to be really upset if we don’t win the game.”

On whether or not Florida makes tweaks to its practice regimen at this point in the year:

Golden: “I think consistency, for me, is one of the most important things in terms of our program continuing to grow. To be honest, in the middle of conference play we kind of adjusted what we did on a day-to-day basis in terms of practice and in terms of what we did and we kind of get into a really good rhythm and I feel like a good flow and something that’s worked really well for us. We’ve been really consistent that way and these two-games-a-week situations, you’re able to get into a pretty good rhythm with your practice schedule. Tuesday being a game, we were off Wednesday then had a good practice yesterday, practice similarly today and just go compete tomorrow.”

On handling zone defense:

Golden: “I think we’re going to have a challenge with that tomorrow. Obviously Alabama is pretty consistent with their man-to-man defense and the switch a little bit which acts as a little bit of a zone but they’re man and they didn’t really press us a lot so we were able to get through that game without having to deal with that a whole lot but we know Vanderbilt’s going to do that. We know that they’re going to change the defenses up. We’re going to see some zone. We’re going to see some press. We’re going to see some trap. We will get a good test on that tomorrow. We’ve worked on it, we’ve addressed it and my hope is that we’re really confident and comfortable attacking it tomorrow.”

On avoiding injury:

Golden: “That’s a huge part of it. Duke Werner is one of the best in the country. You’re not going to feel more comfortable with a trainer. He’s been a part of staffs that have national championships. He’s been around NBA guys. He knows what guys look like when they need some rest and he knows what guys look like when they need more and I think V Lo has done an incredible job keeping us strong, upright. We’ve consistently lifted throughout the season so it’s not like once we got to games we tapered off and we weren’t in there at all. We basically lift, recovery-wise after every game whether it’s after the day off or not. He’s done an incredible job keeping our guys in a good space that way. It’s been a huge strength of ours and my hope is that it continues for the next few weeks here.”

On Micah Handlogten’s recent play:

Golden: “He’s been playing fine. We just need to keep him out of foul trouble. I think he’s taken some questionable — when I say questionable, I mean fouls that he’s done, not in terms of the refs being questionable — he’s had some fouls, like in the game against Bama, where he goes for the rebound and doesn’t get it because he’s caught with his hand in the cookie jar hitting someone in the face. Now with 19:40 left in the first half he’s got a foul. We’ve got to start avoiding that to not be in a situation where he picks up his second with 13:40 in the first half and now we’re juggling. Obviously, I’m going to play him through two but not wanting to get him that third before halftime and dealing with that. We’ve talked to him about it and a big part of it is just making sure we don’t pick up any of those silly ticky-tacky fouls that lead to him being in foul trouble before other guys. If he can do that, he’s going to be out on the court a lot. His production, his play I don’t think it’s dipped at all. It’s really just him being in foul trouble.”