Todd Golden talks Gators win over Pitt, Micah Handlogten injury

The Gators advanced to the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off with an impressive 86-71 win over Pitt on Friday night from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Todd Golden’s team was led by a pair of 20-point performances from junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. and senior forward Tyrese Samuel.

Clayton scored 28 points on 11-for-17 shooting, including 6-for-8 from 3-point range. Samuel posted his second double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 9-for-11 from the field.

“Really pleased and really happy with the way we performed tonight,” Golden said after the game. “Obviously, Walter Clayton had a fantastic game, 28 points tonight, and did a really good job hitting big shots when we needed them. This is a big win for us. This is going to be one that’s going to go with us all year.”

Starting center Micah Handlogten, a sophomore transfer from Marshall, left the game in the opening minute after taking a hard fall and did not return, joining his team on the bench for the second half.

Golden provided an update on Handlogten’s injury after the game.

“Ankle. Hopefully nothing too serious. We’re getting it looked at right now, so we’re waiting to hear what’s going on,” Golden said.

“Obviously, we got off to a slow start, losing Micah in the first minute, not something that was scripted for us. But I was really proud of the way our guys stepped up. Obviously, we played a limited lineup with him out.”

As a team, the Gators posted 24 assists and just eight turnovers, marking Florida’s first performance hitting both of those benchmarks since a 25/7 showing at Texas A&M on Jan. 2, 2018.

“I think we had to wear them down a little bit,” Golden said of the fastbreak scoring advantage. “They’re a good team and they did a good job of putting pressure on us, on the glass, which kind of limited our opportunities. But once we started getting those clean rebounds in the second half we have multiple guys who can bring it and make decisions, and that allows us to really push and play with really good tempo. They just weren’t getting back as well as the game went on, as they were early on. I thought we did a good job taking advantage of that.”

Florida used an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the game with 39 seconds left in the first half and led 39-34 at the break after a Thomas Haugh 3-pointer at the buzzer. Another 9-0 second-half run pushed the Gators’ advantage to 13 with 9:51 remaining and they led by double digits the rest of the way.

“We came back, did a good job in the first half to get that lead. Tommy hit that big 3 right before halftime, which I thought gave us a lot of momentum going into the second half. I thought we just wore them down a little bit,” Golden said.

“I thought we did a really good job defensively all night, held them to 35 [percent] from the field, gave up too many 3-point attempts, but guarded the line pretty well and forced 14 turnovers. Obviously, that kind of spearheaded our run in the second half.”

UF rallied from an early nine-point deficit, 19-10, at the 12:14 mark of the first half. It marks the Gators’ sixth win under Golden after coming back from trailing by eight or more points.

“I thought early on our issues were more on the offensive end. We weren’t executing very well,” Golden said of Pitt’s 7-0 run to open the game. “Defensively, I think Blake Hinson banked in a 3 to get them up 7-0, so a little of it was fluky. We knew if we stayed the course that we’d be all right. But I thought the guys did a good job of controlling their emotions and keeping calm through it, and we responded pretty quickly.”

Florida (4-1) will face No. 13 Baylor (5-0) in the NIT Season Tip-Off championship game Friday at 5:30 PM on ESPN.