Todd Golden talks impact of Title IX investigation, win over Grambling

The No. 20 Florida Gators picked up another easy win Monday night, 86-62, over Grambling at home. The Gators now are 3-0. Afterward, Florida coach Todd Golden talked about the game — and the impact of the ongoing Title IX investigation of which he is the subject (more on the allegations HERE)

Opening statement: “Obviously, I assume you guys have a lot of questions. I just want to start by saying, I kind of expressed my statement on Saturday, and obviously would love to be able to give you more, but that’s all I can give in this moment. And so any questions in regards to the ongoing inquiry, I’m just referring to my statement on Saturday, and I apologize that I can’t comment any more than that.”

On the challenge of the last several days: “Challenging.”

On the reception he received: “I thought it was great. I thought they were as usual, and obviously during the current circumstances, I appreciate it.”

On his message to female fans of the team: “Obviously, in this situation, due process and to continue to support guys, and I just would hope that they would allow the process to take place and see where it ends up.”

On how it feels to still be coaching amid the investigation: “It feels like normal, to be honest. This is my job. So it’s my position at the moment, and we will continue to do it.”

On winning the rebounding battle: “It was awesome. I thought our guys did a great job of setting the tone that way. We talked a lot about it. The first couple of games we didn’t do a great job on the glass. And we wanted to put an emphasis on that tonight against a team that we think is pretty damn good, to be honest. They played really well last Friday, at Ole Miss. Gave them all they wanted, had a second-half lead of double digits and so for us to come in and kind of control the game the way we did, I thought said a lot. The emphasis we put on the glass was really good as well.”

On the response of the players and their focus: “Again, we continued to do what we do on a daily basis. We have a mature group, and we continue to attack it on a day to day basis like we always do. Our guys are focused. We’ve just poured more into our team, more into our staff and made sure that we were prepared for the night. I thought that our guys did a really good job of playing and executing from start to finish.”

On playing zone early: “We just did a lot of kind of, like, switching. Switching low to high, making it hard for them to get penetration. I thought we did a good job of kind of pushing out their initial catches, which made it harder for them to operate offensively. Defensively, we’re getting better. I thought we guarded the 3-point line the best we have all year, even including our scrimmages. We only gave up 12 attempts. Obviously they only made two. We did a really good job defending without fouling, as well. We, the last 10 minutes of the game, I thought they got the majority of their free throws. Over the course of the night, I thought those two areas were a lot better for us.”

On what gets him through this personally: “What’s personally getting me through this right now? Respecting the situation, my family, my team, my coaching staff. We’re just continuing to attack it like we normally would every day.”

On whether it’s tough to stay focused personally: “Yeah. Again, I know what’s going on. I know the situation. Again, our staff’s done a great job. Our guys have done a good job. We’ve spent a lot of time together over the last couple days and continue to what we have in front of us, which was this game tonight and what will be Florida State on Friday.”

On the benefit of seeing more zone early in the season: “Yeah, it’s important. It’s something that has bothered us in the past. I thought we were a little casual early on, trying to get past it and not being really aggressive or strong with the ball. In the second half, I thought we moved it a little bit better, cut through the zone, got some better looks and attacked inside, which in my estimation, got them out of it toward the midpoint of the second half. Yeah, it’s always good to see it. We saw it quite a bit in SEC play when we’re playing well and scoring efficiently. To be able to attack it early on in the year is definitely good.”

On Rueben’s performance:“It’s huge. We’re counting on him, and as you know, the way we play, we need all four of those front-court players to be effective and efficient. He’s been just kind of finding his way these first couple of games. He’s been really good all summer and all fall. Again, just new team, new situation for him. I thought it took him a little longer to get comfortable. But, again, to your point, tonight, 7 for 8 from the field. He definitely looked a lot more comfortable on the offensive end.”

Seeing five guys with 10 points: “We talked about in the locker room. This team is super unselfish, and they play for each other. I think a great example of that was Will Richard’s play in transition when he got the steal run-out and had the opportunity to go dunk it and said he saw Rueben coming out the back of his vision, dropped it off to him for a big dunk, which was a really, really unselfish play and kind of speaks to our team. But to your point, our eight guys that played over 20 minutes, all scored in double figures. And when you have that type of ability to spread it out, it makes you a lot more effective.”

On bench production: “It’s huge. I thought we did a good job of getting out of this game without having too much wear and tear on our bodies, without having to play guys too many minutes, being able to spread it out that way. And we’ll be off tomorrow. So over the next three or so days we should be really fresh heading into Florida State.”

On whether he’s impressed with how his players handled the distractions over the last two days: “I wasn’t necessarily concerned. I think they know who I am and, you know, again, they’re mature. They’re all really good guys and all super focused. We had really good practices. We had a great shoot-around today and I thought they were all really locked in. I felt like we were going to play really well tonight. I thought Carlin Hartman did a great job. He had the scout tonight. He had Grambling in the scout last year as well and just did an incredible job of preparing us. This was, again, a team that we were really concerned about. They were up 10 at Ole Miss on Friday. This wasn’t  a cake-walk by any means. This was a team that played in the NCAA Tournament last year. This is a team that has a lot of returners off that team and another starter that was on a Final Four roster last year. For us to have this kind of effort, controlling the game the way we did, I thought we played really well.”

On Florida’s frontcourt: “I think our guys do a really good job. Our frontcourt has really good feel so when they’re able to draw defenders and they feel a little but of a double team or a little help at the rim, they’re able to play off two and be balanced and drop it off to their fellow big or throw out to a perimeter guy for a shot. But, again, Rueben is kind of more of our bruiser, more of our physical one but Sam, Tommy and Condo all have really, really good feel and understanding and are really good playmakers for their teammates.”

On whether he has a sense for when Florida’s investigation into the Title IX claims against him might be resolved: “I cannot comment on that.”