WATCH: Golden reacts to win over Ole Miss, Colin Castleton injury

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Five Gators scored in double figures Wednesday to lead Todd Golden’s team to a 79-64 win over Ole Miss after an injury to All-SEC big man Colin Castleton.

Myreon Jones finished with season highs in scoring (team-high 15 points) and 3-pointers (5). Kowacie Reeves and Will Richard scored 13 points each and Riley Kugel posted 12.

Kyle Lofton rounded out the Gators’ five double-figure scorers, chipping in 10 points and a season-high seven assists. Castleton posted just 3 points and suffered a broken right hand.

In the video below, Florida coach Todd Golden discusses the Gators’ victory over Ole Miss, the injury to Castleton and how other UF players stepped up in his absence.

Todd Golden quotes

On Colin Castleton:

Golden: “It didn’t look great. We’re still waiting to hear final word on what happened. Obviously, we have a game on Saturday no matter what, so we’re gonna have to, if he’s gonna be out for an extended period of time, it’s next man up and really proud of Jason [Jitoboh] tonight. A guy that’s been playing three, four or five minutes a game comes out and, I’m not sure when Colin [Castleton] went out to injury around 12 minutes or something like that, he played 12 straight minutes in the game, and incredible effort. To be honest, I didn’t know he was gonna be able to do that.

“I thought we were going to have to get him a rest around eight trying to stretch him out, but he looked great out there. I thought he did a wonderful job defensively, did a decent job on the defensive glass, he was plus six and did a great job of stepping up in that moment. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I’m also going to be a realist on the Colin situation and if we don’t have you know, Jason and obviously CJ [Felder] being back will be beneficial and we’ll have to have a lot of guys step up.”

On the team’s depth:

Golden: “Myreon [Jones] had five defensive rebounds. Colin only played 21 minutes only scoring three points. If you’d asked me before the game, ‘Hey, how do you like your chances if Castleton only plays 20 minutes and scores three points?’ I’d have said, ‘Man, we’re going to be in for a tough one.’ So the fact that we won that game by 15 speaks to the depth and the performance of those other guys on the roster. MJ [Myreon Jones] going five-for-seven from three. I told him in the locker room, obviously super thrilled with the way he shot the ball. I thought his biggest play was when he dove on the loose one late, for lack of better term, iced the game. That was a great leadership moment.

“I thought Kyle [Lofton] did a great job controlling the game all 40 minutes, only two turnovers. He did a great job handling their double teams and their hard shows and the trap. Riley [Kugel] found some great backdoor cuts, hit a big three off the ball screen. [Kowacie Reeves] gave us great minutes, great finishes, two big three, so the list goes on and on. But that’s the type of effort you need for multiple guys when your best player goes out with an injury. So really proud of the way everybody stepped up.”

On the message at halftime:

Golden: “We were up by 10, but the fundamentals of our game were not good. We were up by 10, but we talked about being process over results. We were getting crushed on the boards and we’re throwing the ball over the gym. The fact we were up 10 was because we were making every shot. We were 14-for-21 at halftime, I believe something like that. It’s a tough formula for winning, making every shot, especially with this team. So we knew that if we wanted to really win this game and win it the right way, we’re gonna have to limit their second chances and do a much better job taking care of the ball. We did both of those much better in the second half compared to the first half.”