Todd Golden talks Florida-Arkansas, Ole Miss loss, Riley Kugel

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida is back home Saturday against Arkansas at 4 p.m. on ESPN. The Gators (10-5) are looking for their first SEC win after an 0-2 start in conference play.

Here is everything UF coach Todd Golden said about the matchup with Razorbacks, the loss to Ole Miss, Riley Kugel’s recent struggles and more.

Todd Golden Q&A

On Arkansas practicing at UF:

Golden: “They had bad weather. Glad we’re not going there tomorrow.”

On Riley Kugel:

Golden: “I’m going to keep it simple. Riley and I were just not on the same page the day of the game against Ole Miss. We met yesterday. I think we had a great conversation. I think we’re back on the same page. I expect him to play really well tomorrow, and that’s really the depth that I’m going to go into it.” 

On if there was a build up with Kugel:

Golden: “No, I wouldn’t say that at all. It happened a little bit the day of the game. We were not on the same page on game day. We made sure to get back on the same page yesterday. I expect him to play really well.”

On UF’s defense in the first two SEC games: 

Golden: “Honestly, I thought we played pretty well defensively against Kentucky, until the last couple minutes. I was not at all disappointed with that effort. We played well enough to win in that game, defensively. Obviously, the Ole Miss game was a different story. I think we ran into a buzzsaw a little bit. They played really, really well. I think they were really well prepared and did a good job of making tough shots. And then we didn’t do a very good job in a lot of aspects, whether it be transition … And then one thing, the game, it all connects together. It’s not like football where you have 11 guys playing offense and another 11 guys playing defense. I really think our offense, even though we scored 85 points, we had a lot of possessions that led to transition for them. A lot of it was blocked shots – they blocked 16 shots – and a lot those stayed in bounds. When that happens, usually a guy is flying in trying to make a layup, then pound it off the glass and now they’re going 4-on-3 the other way. There was nothing good about our defensive effort the other night, but we have to help ourselves more in terms of our offense not leading to putting us in predicaments on the defensive end.”

On the 24 points off turnovers:

Golden: “We just weren’t with it. We weren’t as good as we needed to be. This was the first time all year we had a performance like that, where we just didn’t play to our capabilities in a lot of different ways. I’m not going to overreact. I think we’ve done a really good job all year in different areas and I think we’ll be ready to go [Saturday].”

On how Kugel can get back on track:

Golden: “I thought he played pretty well against Kentucky, especially early in the game, getting out in transition, taking good shots, attacking the rim in the second half, got to the line six times and played really good defense. If we continue to see that I think he’ll get back where he needs to get.”

On Kugel’s consistency:

Golden: “We talked about it a lot, in terms of trying to find his sweet spot and comfortability. He’s not all the way there yet, but he’s not the only one. He’s not unique in that regard. Again, yesterday was a good for us. I think we covered a lot of things and I do expect him to play really well going forward.”

On if Kugel is back in the starting lineup:

Golden: “No.”

On if Kugel is coming off the bench:

Golden: “Yeah.”

On how Kugel has handled that:

Golden: “He’s been fine. He’s been fine.” 

On the importance of Arkansas game with two SEC losses:

Golden: “Every game in the SEC is absolutely super-important. Both teams 0-2 right now. None of us want to go into next week 0-3. We’re back in our home gym. Very important game for us and we’ll be ready to go. I think we’ll play well, for sure.” 

On the keys to success against Arkansas:

Golden: “Transition defense, for sure. They’re a team that can get up and down pretty well. I think offensively, we have to stay away from what plagued us in the Ole Miss game. We have to be stronger with the ball and we can’t have the amount of turnovers that we had. We have to do a better job of playing with poise in the paint. i thought we got — we were trying to fight but not necessarily in the most intelligent way in that Ole Miss game in terms of trying to get downhill and challenging their rim protectors at the rim. We were being a little stubborn about that. We have to do a better job playing off two feet and making good decisions and not allowing them to turn our offense into offense for them in terms of taking quick shots or turnovers.”

On whether UF’s offensive pace can lead to sloppiness:

Golden: “Yeah, I think so. It’s a delicate balance in terms of — we still scored 85 (against Ole Miss). And we got I think nine more field goal attempts and 11 more free throws. We got a lot more attempts than they did but they were obviously able to capitalize at a much higher rate. Especially on the road. I think on the road we got to be mindful of the amount of running we’re doing because at times, it’s going to happen. When you play at that kind of pace, there’s going to be looseness. I think we can weather that a little better in the O’Dome than I think we can in different SEC arenas for sure.”

On his relationship with Eric Musselman:

Golden: “I’ve known Coach for a long time. He played at San Diego for my head coach, Randy Bennett, and Kyle Smith was, I think, a grad manager back on that staff back in the day. Back in 2010, Muss offered me a position on his G-League staff. He was with the Reno Bighorns and I almost did that but ended up not doing it. But we stayed in touch and he got the (Nevada) Reno job and I almost went out there to work with him in Reno but it just never worked out timing-wise but I’ve always had a lot of respect for him and obviously he’s done a great job at Arkansas and won at an insanely high level. This league is full of great coaches and he’s definitely toward the top of that list. … I’ve known him since I was 21 years old.”

On Florida’s ability to pass out of the post:

Golden: “For the most part, it’s been really good, but it’s regressed a little bit. I thought it hurt us the other night. But I do think it was a little bit of an aberration than anything else. I think that getting into Tyrese [Samuel] and [Alex Condon], those are the guys that we throw it in to a little bit more than others. They’re good decision makers. They’re good low-post scorers and it’s been good offense for us to get it in there whether they’re trying to score or whether we’re trying to take advantage of a double team. We’re definitely not going to go away from it. It’s something that can be really beneficial for us as we continue on through the year.”

On putting the Ole Miss loss behind them:

Golden: “Honestly, I think the Ole Miss loss is easier to flush than the Kentucky loss. I think the Kentucky loss has a little more emotion to it because you’re right there and you lead for 30 minutes and you’re disappointed and dejected about that loss and it’s a little harder to get over emotionally where the Ole Miss game, not that hard to get over emotionally. You got your butt kicked and you have to address it, which we did with the team yesterday and talk about the things that have to happen to get better but that wasn’t as emotional of a loss. You have to get through that and get over that as quick as possible.”

On whether emotion from the Kentucky loss spilled into Ole Miss:

Golden: “Potentially. For sure. You do everything you can not to allow it to affect it, but we got human beings and as a staff we’re human and we got 18 to 22-year-old guys and sometimes there’s a little bit of a hangover. You never want it to affect you and you do everything you can to prevent it but we’re human and at times it’s going to happen.”

On both teams having something to prove:

Golden: “The parallels are we are both 0-2 in league and we’ve got to find a way to get it on and get going. I know they’re going to be hungry as hell to get this win, and we’re in the same boat. With that, I think there’s some things you can point to for sure.” 

On Florida’s perimeter defense:

Golden: “Again, the Ole Miss game, at least to this point, was an aberration. Baylor was different; they made 14 3s or whatever. We actually guarded the 2 well at the end of the game. We did not guard the 3-point line well in that game. But Ole Miss, we did not guard anything well. We did not guard the 2 well, we didn’t guard the 3 well, we didn’t turn them over. There wasn’t anything I could point to and say, ‘All right, we actually did this pretty well.’ My hope is it was kind of a one-time thing, and we can bounce back a little bit. Now, tomorrow, if something else happens and we’re not good, then we’re going to have some issues to address for sure.” 

On the technical foul:

Golden: “Ahhhhhh. It definitely wasn’t intentional. I was hoping to maybe get one or two more things in before I got T’d. I definitely didn’t want to get run, though, so I saved those. I actually like Todd Austin a lot; I think he’s a really good ref. I just thought they missed one on that one, to be honest. A little frustrating. I was frustrated, obviously. We were getting beat up pretty good. I thought there was a lot of physicality around the rim, and on that play specifically, Tyrese has a great spin move baseline dunk. I thought he got raked across the arms, and we didn’t get a whistle. I think it more just me kind of blowing off a little steam and frustration than anything else.” 

On if it was his first one:

Golden: “First one here.” 

On the gray area with technical fouls:

Golden: “There’s some magic words, right? There’s some magic words.” 

On whether he used any of them:

Golden: “I think I did. Maybe there’s usually a little slack, a little leeway on the first one. He was very close. We were only five or six feet apart from each other, so he definitely heard me very clearly.” 

On working refs during games: 

Golden: “Honestly, I enjoy communicating with the refs in this league, to be honest. We have some of the best refs in America, and I do believe that this is the hardest league in America to officiate. By far the most athletic. Not exactly the best shooting league, so every time a 3-point shot goes up, there’s a million car crashes in the paint and the refs are expected to determine which one crosses the line and which one doesn’t. It’s a really hard job. Same goes for penetration and drives. I think that’s what happened a little bit in that Ole Miss second half. It depends how the game’s being called but sometimes these are bang-bang plays, there are really tough calls. Some you let go and some you don’t. There can be a gray area. I’m very mindful of that and I try to keep that in perspective when I’m evaluating how they’re officiating the games or I’m evaluating how the game’s going. I do appreciate that they generally allow you to talk to them and have some back and forth and some communication. With all that, it’s generally really good.” 

On players saying UF needs more pride on defense:

Golden: “You gotta be able to guard your guard. There was a lot of one-on-one drives in that game. The Ole Miss game wasn’t like a coverage break-down game, where we just didn’t have a way to stop a specific action. It was a lot of middle-ball screen and just getting over the ball screen or weaken the ball screen, and then getting back in front of your man and not allowing them to get into paint and get downhill. And I didn’t think we guarded with enough physicality; I didn’t think we held our ground on penetration very well; I thought we got put in the basket quite a bit. It wasn’t just the perimeter. I think our front court at times didn’t have enough stability in there. So, when coverages break down or when we’re not in the right position defensively, as a coach you got to question yourself and try to think of different ways to do that. But that wasn’t what the Ole Miss game was about. The Ole Miss game to me was about being prideful and understanding that they’re gonna go at you and you got to draw a line in the sand and make sure that you’re making every shot more difficult. And with that being said, I think a big issue, especially in the second half, we were only down four at halftime with the ball coming out. We got ourselves back in the game. But the second half, we allowed them to be too comfortable. I think they made some really tough shots in that game. I go back to the (Allen) Flanagin baseline fadeaways or (Matthew) Murrell hitting a step-back pull-ups in the middle of the floor. Those are shots that we generally will be okay with the teams taking, but they were too comfortable. You can’t go 5 for 5 on those shots unless you’re comfortable. I think we need to do a better job of simply making teams miss. I think it showed up way more that game that it has all year long.”

On what he’s learned going against top SEC coaches:

Golden: “Iron sharpens iron, for sure, in that setting. It definitely drives you to do the best you can on a daily basis knowing that you’re going up against …, there’s a good chance that there’s four or five, maybe even six coaches in this league that end up in the Hall of Fame. So, it’s like, when you’re going up, there’s no nights off. You go first game Calipari, second game Beard, who’s hell of a coach and you come back and got Muss, who obviously wins a lot of games. There’s no nights off for us as coaches, as well. We understand, I understand that I gotta bring my best effort on a daily basis is prepare my guys. Then when we get into the level of competition to make sure I’m competing at the highest level possible so my guys can try to mirror that, and then we can go compete. But yeah, this is what you want as a coach, this is what you want as a competitor to be able to be at this at this level and compete against these guys on a nightly basis.”

On if technology influences how he deals with officials:

Golden: “Honestly, it’s kind of the unintended consequence. I actually brought this up in the SEC Meetings last year. I think there’s definitely benefits for us as a staff to be able to talk to our guys during the game, but I do think it’s a little tricky for our relationship with the officials during the game. Because obviously it’s very easy for us to get the call right when we’re able to stare at the iPad right after, and these guys don’t have the luxury to do that. So, it makes it a little bit of a gotcha game and I think it’s a little unfair for the refs that way. But it’s human nature and until we don’t get to do it coaches are probably going to take advantage of like that.”