WATCH: Todd Golden ‘very pleased’ with Gators' win over Stetson
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators won their second game in a row Sunday, defeating Stetson 89-51 in Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
UF held the Hatters to its lowest point total allowed since giving up just 45 points in the season-opening win over Stony Brook. The Gators have now limited their last two opponents to under 35 percent shooting.
“We guarded well against FAMU, our energy was good against FAMU, but this team was much better offensively,” Florida coach Todd Golden said of Stetson. “So, it took a little more to get back in transition, to be dialed into their actions in the halfcourt. They had multiple guys that could really poke it. We did a fantastic job limiting them to 33 percent from the field. They only went 4-for-17 from three.
“One the things we talked about with our team was we wanted to limit their attempts from three basically between 15 and 18. We felt like if we could do that, we’d be in good shape. I referenced the FAU game that we lost, we gave up 24 attempts in that game to make 13, against tonight we only gave up 17. That was a big difference.”
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In the video below, Golden discusses the Gators’ defensive performance, how well the team practiced this week and Alex Fudge making his first start at Florida.
Todd Golden reacts to the Gators’ win
Todd Golden opening statement
“Very pleased. I just told our team, I felt like this was the first time all year out there where I felt like this is what our team should really look like in the sense of our guys did an incredible job executing today what we wanted them to, specifically on the defensive end. This team, Stetson, really concerned me coming into the game. They were a top 10 offensive efficiency team in the country to this point. Now, their defense hasn’t been great. It’s one of the lower teams defensive efficiency-wise, but offensively, they’ve been fantastic. Similar to FAU, the way they play undersized and try to spread you out. If you compare the efforts in that game compared to what we did today, we did a much better job of dictating what they did offensively.
“We did a great job making them operate in that middle pick and roll, sticking to their shooters. I feel like all perimeter players did a great job of understanding with [Wheza] Panzo number one, he’s a key cover to this team, because he shoots the ball so well. A lot of times teams forget about him, or they lose him because they’re guarding him with their bigs. Our wings and guards did a great job switching in the action he was involved with, and I think he only got one or two shots up all game. 1-for-1 in 16 minutes, that was a huge cover for us. I’m very happy because I feel like we’re learning how to execute for 40 minutes. I thought we did a really good job with that tonight.”
