Todd Golden talks Senior Night as Gators try to finish season strong

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida gets a rematch Wednesday against No. 16 Alabama on its home court two weeks after the Tide (20-9, 12-4 SEC) edged out the Gators (20-9, 10-6 SEC) in an overtime thriller, 98-93. Tip is at 7 p.m on ESPN.

Walter Clayton Jr. scored a game-high 27 in the first meeting, while Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel added 17 points each. Here’s everything UF coach Todd Golden said about Senior Night, the South Carolina loss and more.

Todd Golden Q&A

On the South Carolina game:

Golden: “Obviously, the narrative right now, and it’s fair, is a little bit about our zone attack and not being good enough and not getting into it well enough. In that regard, my biggest issue is the turnovers. Whether it took us a little bit to get into some sort of flow against their knot, that’s going to happen when teams are throwing different defenses at you. But you just can’t live with the turnovers. I think we turned it over seven times against the zone. That was the biggest issue on that side of the ball. And, really, the big picture, after watching it again, that needed to be better, but really our second-half defense just wasn’t good enough. At the end of the day, when you’re giving up 51 points, you’re not going to give yourself a great chance to close out the game. Now some of it, like we talked about after the game, we have to do a better job of not fouling. We can’t let teams get to the line 22 times in a half. That’s been a little bit of our issue in our losses on the road; play pretty well in the first half and then in the second half, we send them to the line, the game just sways and they’re able to set up their defense and their zone. So coming away from it, there is always going to be ways to improve, but we’re very good offensively. We still scored 1.13 points per possession on the road against a really good defense. So, overall, I’m fine with that. We just have to do a better job in the second half of defending, especially away from home.”

On what has caused UF to blow double-digit leads:

Golden: “That one is a little trickier for me, simply because out of our last 12 games I think we’ve had 10 double-digit leads in the second half, and we’ve won seven of those games. The three that we lost were the three on the road.”

On some wins getting too close for comfort:

Golden: “Yeah, but these teams want to win too. They’re competing their tail off. I would love to say I want to get up by 10, 15 or 20 and never allow it to be a game. If we were doing that consistently we’d be a top-five team in the country. We’re just not quite there yet. I would obviously like to be able to keep a wider distance in terms of those leads, but again, their team is fighting and is going to do what it can to get back in it. I go back to the defense, again, being the main thing. We can’t be in a position where if we have three possessions that we don’t score that the game is tightening up on us. I feel like that’s been the biggest issue. Go back to the Auburn, we were very good defensively the whole way out. It never got close. That’s my biggest thing. We have to become tougher and be able to finish better on the defensive end. We’re not quite there yet. I think we have the ability to do that, we’ve shown the ability to do that, and just have to be more consistent that way. Going back and watching the film that’s what I keep coming back to. We have to get some stops.” 

On what does that come down to:

Golden: “It’s a little bit of everything. It’s our transition defense off misses. When teams go zone, we get a little off set. The floor gets a little imbalanced. When you get these leads, they’re playing with a lot of freedom. They’re not worrying about a lot. They’re just flying up the floor in transition, we’re trying to stop the ball and now we’re just getting fouls. That’s kind of the biggest issue that way. And teams have made some shots in the second half against us. I think we do a better job defending in the first half than the second half. That’s been the reality. That’s the thing I keep going back to. We got to be better at getting stops.”

On whether fatigue is an issue:

Golden: “Could be. Could be. I think it’s more communication away from the bench. That would be my biggest thing. But, yeah, these guys are playing minutes. But every team is. I think every team could probably say that. I think we got to be a little tougher away from our bench, a little mentally and physically tougher that way.”

On how tough that is to coach:

Golden: “Yeah. It’s a tricky balance, man, because, obviously, we’re striving to be the best team we can possibly be. And we’ve obviously made big strides over the last couple of months and went from a team that people didn’t know what we could be and now we’re safely in the tournament playing for seeding. We’ve won nine out of our last 12, and all three of those losses we had double-digit leads. So, we’re very close to playing really, really, really good ball. So, I try to keep that in perspective as well. I’m really pleased with what this team’s done. And if the biggest thing we’re complaining about is that we haven’t been able to close out some leads, I can live with that. And I need to do a better job of getting us there. But big picture-wise, I think we’re in a really good spot and have a great chance to finish out this week really strong and then go to Nashville on a neutral court, which excites me for our group to be able to play in that type of environment. So perspective is important. I think for us, just like everybody, we want to be the best we can be and win all the games. We’re getting close to that. We’re not there yet. And hopefully, really this week especially, we can take some steps towards being a more complete team.”

On not being satisfied with their progress:

Golden: “Yeah, absolutely. Nor am I and nor is my staff. It’s a fine line between not being satisfied and understanding the areas in which we can improve. That was the biggest takeaway out after South Carolina for us really. We lead for 25 minutes again or whatever and kind of let that thing get tight. They took it at the end. But we had two things, one on each side of the ball, that were, in our opinion, clear that we can improve upon moving forward. So, it’s not like we’re playing the best we could possibly play and we’re just falling a little short. We’re playing very well. We’re in every game we’re playing. And when we do fall short, there seems to be some certain things that we can clean up to get better.”

On fouling issues: 

Golden: “I think a little bit. And, again, that goes back to I think the first half we’re geared up, the defense in front of our bench, were able to communicate a lot and we’re pretty sharp that way in the second half. And these really great environments; South Carolina is a great environment. There’s awesome college basketball and environment, almost a full house in there, two Top-25 teams, less of an ability for us to communicate, more important for our guys to. There’s just times where we’re not at our best. I think that’s the easiest way to say it. We’re clearly not a perfect team, and there’s times where we reach a little better or where we come down in verticality, stuff we work on but we’re just not we’re not perfect there yet.”

On if frustration builds:

Golden: “I don’t think so. No, I don’t.”

On the team’s adjustments this season:

Golden: “Pretty good man. One of my better ones, if not the best. I think we’ve done a really good job handling tough environments early like with our last two obviously at Bama and then at South Carolina. Take some punches early and then get to halftime with leads; not easy to do. But this group, for the most part, has done a really good job staying even-keeled, not getting too high, not getting too low and not allowing swings to affect the rest of the game. It could have been easy for us early on. I think they went on that 7-0 run. I use a timeout. And I think we came out and had a 13-0, 14-0 run behind it. So this team has shown the ability to be pretty resilient in those situations. And, yeah, I think we’ve done well there.”

On Tyrese Samuel and Zyon Pullin’s impact on team culture: 

Golden: “I mean, I don’t want to say we expected all of this from them. You know, I think that would have been a little unreasonable, but we definitely expected good leadership and consistency, and the ability to show up every day and have a really good attitude. Obviously ‘Rese had a very good career at Seton Hall, ZP had a very good career at Riverside. You know, they had track records, and so we were able to kind of recognize that and bring them in and try to kind of slide them into these positions, to where the younger guys that we thought were, you know, really good players, or the potential to be, would have some good leadership to follow, and I think they’ve done a really good job that way. So honestly, I can’t quantify, but I know we’d be a lot worse without them. They’ve done a really good job all year, and just like everybody, whether it’s the staff or the players, like, they’re not perfect, but, man, they’ve been about as good as we could have expected in terms of seniors coming in here and doing what we wanted them to do.”

On the walk-ons and their impact: 

Golden: “Yeah, no, they’re awesome, man. And we’re gonna miss those guys. I think, you know, both of them were here prior to us getting here, and you know, I’ve never once felt like they didn’t welcome our staff and all the new guys with open arms, you know, and they were great resources for us early on as we were trying to bring guys in the program last spring and host recruits. I mean, we didn’t know where to go eat, we didn’t know what to do on campus, you know, and these guys were doing a great job of ‘hey, this is good, this is not good’, You know, AK – they’re both gonna be super successful, you know, whatever they decide to do, whether it is coaching or getting outside of basketball and entering the workforce. Those are the type of guys that that I would bet on having really successful lives and careers and, you know, that walk-on role is unique. You got to do a lot of the heavy lifting without much of the sugar being passed your way and they do a great job showing up every day and being great Gators that way.”

On if he feels pressure to get the walk-ons in the game on Senior Day: 

Golden: “No. Listen, I treat walk-ons like Randy Bennett treated me. And so, be happy for everything you get, don’t expect anything now. You know, if it works out, great, but just not at the top of my priority list. And I’ll make sure I notify them of that today so their expectations aren’t very high. ‘Fellas, listen’.” 

On Will Richard’s shooting as of late: 

Golden: “Yeah, he’s had some great nights and, again, the last two weren’t great. So, percentage comes down a little bit. No, I think it’s one of those things, I believe in Will and his ability to shoot the ball, you know, whether he shooting what he is right now, which is probably 29% or something like that, or whether he’s at 40, like, every time he lets it fly, I think that’s a good shot for us, and my mindset is not changing on that anytime soon. So, you know, he knows where our confidence level is in him as a shooter. You know, Saturday was a little tricky because he didn’t get as many looks as he normally does, so that could have played into it a little bit. But, you know, like I said, like, and I feel like I experienced this as a player: when the majority of your shots are threes, you know, there’s gonna be sometimes where you’re getting great looks, you’re taking the right shots, and you’re just not making them at a really high clip. It tends to be, you know, way more volatility in that regard. So, you know, obviously, it’s an area where he can improve, and I expect him to shoot the ball really well tomorrow night. I really do.”

On Richard staying consistent in other areas even when his shot isn’t falling: 

Golden: “I think that’s his growth as a player, you know, because last year, I think he was a little more inconsistent that way when the ball wasn’t going through the net, he wasn’t as consistent as he currently is on the glass, and I think this year he’s matured to not allow that to affect him as much as it did in the past. But, you know, that’s expected a little bit, you know, we need him to be really, really solid defensively and on the glass. So, yeah, I think he’s just a good leader for us and that’s part of his maturation process.” 

On Zyon Pullin’s consistency: 

Golden: “Yeah, I mean, it’s, listen the proof’s in the pudding. 29 games, you know, and he’s done that for us all year. And, you know, a big part of it too, and I think he would agree, is the talent that we have around him, you know. They’re obviously keying on him and thinking about him a lot in these ball-screen coverages, but there’s not a lot of help to be had out there, you know, and if you do, he does a good job taking advantage of that help. And, as you guys know, he can live in the mid-range. You know, he’s one of those guards, kind of an old school guy that doesn’t have to get all the way to the rim to finish, and he does a great job of gaining separation in space, kind of hitting that little mid-range fade, which is a great shot for him and a good shot for us. And he’s just been a great leader, a guy that’s, you know, really been a big part of why we’ve been so successful this year.”