‘We have to stay consistent’: Todd Golden previews Florida-LSU game

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Todd Golden and the Gators (16-7, 6-4 SEC) welcome LSU (12-11, 4-6 SEC) to the O’Dome on Tuesday for the only regular season meeting between the teams. Tip is at 8 p.m. on SEC Network.

UF enters with five wins in its last six games and boasts a 10-1 home record this season, most recently beating 12th-ranked Auburn, 81-65, in a game the Gators led by as many as 29.

Here’s everything Golden said about Florida’s latest win over the Tigers, the matchup with LSU and more.

Todd Golden Q&A

On sustaining momentum and LSU’s strengths:

Golden: “We’re at that point in the conference season where it sounds cliche but every game, even with our recent success, is super important to us. I feel we have a lot we can build on over the past couple of weeks but one of the things that we’ve talked about before is just handling success and making sure that we come out tomorrow and we play with the same energy and enthusiasm that we played with on Saturday. If we do that, we’ll give ourselves a really good shot but if we don’t, it’s going to be a really big challenge. I think LSU is really talented. They have multiple guys who could hurt you. Jalen Cook can really score it, Will Baker is a really tough cover at the five spot and then they have long, active wings who can make some shots. Watched a little bit of that game on Saturday live against Alabama and just a lot of baskets going back and forth. We’ve got to be ready to go. It’s going to be a challenge to guard them. They’re a tough cover that way. My hope is that we can bring the same energy and enthusiasm on our home floor like we did this past Saturday.”

On controlling emotions after a big win:

Golden: “It’s something that we’ve had to work on the past couple weeks, to be honest. We talked about it after the Kentucky game. We wanted to enjoy it that weekend but once the game was over, we woke up the next day and we had to be prepared for A&M. Similar mentality and similar approach after Saturday. We had Saturday night to enjoy, got together yesterday, watched some film and worked out and today is going to be a really important practice. To be honest, it starts with Walter Clayton (who’s watching Golden speak). If he practices hard, we have really good practices and that’s the expectation we have as well.”

On Florida’s defensive performance against Auburn:

Golden: “We had some things going in our favor for that game with the bye and some extra time to prepare. It felt like we had a really good understanding of how to compete well against them and they came in off a very emotional win, so those things were in our favor. I just thought we did a really good job of stepping up to the moment. Obviously, a huge crowd, a lot of energy in the O’Dome and then we got off to such a great start. It felt a lot like Florida State when we were able to sustain it and then you worry about that at the beginning of the second half. How are we going to come out? And then I think we scored 20 points in the first five or six minutes of the second half and really eliminated any shadow of a doubt. Just continuing to see if we can build on that, handle success and have a similar effort tomorrow night. if we can do that and can start sustaining these efforts back-to-back, then I think we might be onto something.”

On what clicked defensively against Auburn:

Golden: “I thought we covered up for each other really, really well. Schematically, we were good. We did a good job on the scout. There weren’t a lot of things that I could point to that we didn’t do well. But, on those broken plays where extra effort and making that additional rotation or close out, whatever it may be, I thought we did a really good job of covering each other up that way. The whole game, but the first 20 minutes, specifically, I thought we were flying around and just kind of stymieing their offense.”

On limiting offensive turnovers in recent games:

Golden: “We’ve been pretty good at taking care of the ball. We’ve had our moments. Obviously the A&M game, it really hurt us but part of our ability to make this jump that we have really since the end of December has been our ability to take care of the ball and our ability to get on the glass. When we do those things, it kind of raises our floor in terms of how productive we can be offensively. When we make shots along with those things, we’re really tough but limiting turnovers and creating more possessions on the glass has been a really good foundation for us. It’s been a huge reason as to why we’re able to win some of these games against high-caliber opponents and it’s going to be what continues to allow us to do it moving forward. There’s a gap. When we take care of it, we’re pretty dang good but when we don’t, it’s hard for us to push through and win.”

On the message to the fans for a midweek crowd: 

Golden: “Yeah, they’re doing their part, you know. They’ve been great coming out and supporting, and we got a really good crowd for Mississippi State also which was a midweek game, you know. It might not be the same as Saturday, but I do anticipate it being really good again. The Rowdies have been awesome. You know, pulling up to the game, I usually get to the game about an hour and 45, hour and a half before, and huge line across the street as we’re coming into the building. Really happy for our guys, because they’ve created a lot of excitement on campus. And the student body, they were great last year and we weren’t very good. They’re elite this year, and I think that’s, you know, a big part of our–.” 

On if he ever does anything with the fans before the game: 

Golden: “We went out there before the Arkansas game and spent some time with them, so.” 

On his appreciation for Zyon Pullin and his toughness: 

Golden: “Just the way he commands, you know, the floor and the game, but our whole perimeter, to be honest, has done a really good job with that lately, and I think that’s where the biggest gains have been made, because Zyon’s been consistent taking care of the ball the whole year, you know, he’s been really good that way. But you see the growth that Walt’s made taking care of the ball, you see the way Riley’s playing right now, he’s playing as well as anybody is, and, you know, just adding another ball-handler that’s being a good decision-maker out there, I think that’s where our growth is, and our bigs have been really good with the ball. They’ve been strong with it, they haven’t been turning it over, so continuity, I think comfort and then continuing to understand, you know, how good we can be I think are all the things that kind of go into that.” 

On how the staff has seen Riley Kugel progress: 

Golden: “He’s just playing so hard, first of all. I think that’s the thing you point to and you’re like, alright, you know, even when he’s not making every shot like he was on Saturday, he’s still really effective because of how athletic he is and how hard he’s playing, how committed he is on the defensive end. He’s rebounding better, I think that’s something that’s really important for our team, and obviously when he plays a game like he did offensively on Saturday, you know, we just have a lot of weapons that are entering the equation, and I think it becomes tough to cover us when, you know, those four perimeters are playing well, because there’s really no weak out guy out there where you can say ‘alright we might put our weakest guy on him.’ You can’t do that because all of those guys can play-make, they can all score 20 in a game, they can all take advantage of matchups on a drive, so, you know, just kind of pouring into that. He’s done an incredible job accepting the role of coming off the bench, I think that’s something that can’t be taken lightly. You know, he might be our sixth man, but you all know, he’s a starter for us, a starter-level player for us, he’s playing like an all-league player again after the last couple weeks. So just that camaraderie and again, his individual sacrifice off coming off the bench, has obviously made us much greater as a whole, and I think you look at great teams in the past, there are always good players that are sacrificing in terms of coming off the bench, and that’s just where we landed. To his credit, he’s been amazing accepting it and also lifting us when he comings in the game.”

On the early tough contests helped Florida evolve as a team: 

Golden: “You know, I just think getting those rips against really good clubs early, it definitely helped us as we got into conference season. Each individual game, different, because again we didn’t have Zyon against Virginia, we didn’t have Micah against Baylor, so, we were still kind of trying to figure everything out, and maybe playing some of those really good teams early set us back a little bit, because it had, you know, we showed confidence a little bit early that way, but now as we’ve gotten really healthy and stayed healthy, knock on wood, in conference play, we’ve kind of taken those jumps, but our schedule’s tough. We played a lot of really good games in the non-conference, and we come out of there 10-3, I thought we were a little more battle-tested than we were last year coming into the conference season.” 

On the challenges of facing LSU:

Golden: “They’re really talented. They have multiple guys who can score. Jalen Cook is really good offensively. Will Baker, really good offensively. Point guard and center. Those are the two important parts on the floor, so they don’t have to be crazy complicated with what they run to effective, so that concerns me. And, obviously, coming off an emotional win Saturday and making sure we have a really good effort. LSU is good. They beat A&M by 15 on A&M’s home floor. That shows a little bit of what their ceiling is. This league is so good, they can come in here and just pop you. So just making sure our mentality is where it needs to be and respecting everyone and fearing no one is where we need to be going into tomorrow night.” 

On building chemistry with five transfer starters:

Golden: “It’s definitely not an exact science. I think it’s actually really, really challenging. But we do kind of build our roster and our program with the idea of, like, all right, are these pieces going to fit together. We’re not just going and trying to recruit the most talented guys and then try to figure it out. We want to make sure the pieces work together. A big part of that comfort is that these guys complement each other very well. ZP is a point guard, but Walt can play point guard is a great scorer. Riley is the best athlete, incredible in transition and a great downhill driver. Will is an outstanding standstill shooter. That’s just on the perimeter, but they kind of come and work together. You can play three of the four of them together and they work together. Their ability to have success individually while we’re having success as a team is the main reason they get along so well.” 

On the character component on team chemistry:

Golden: “Absolutely. It’s the most important thing when we’re looking and evaluating. Obviously, the talent is a huge part of it, but character and buy-in and alignment with what we’re trying to fill in here was a conversation we had with every guy. Again, we’re not going to get it right every time, especially in this portal era when everything happens so fast. Sometimes, ‘Hey, can you come in on a visit this weekend?’ Boom. Great you’re committed and it happens in 72 hours. That can be tricky sometime., But we will always try to give ourselves the best chance in terms of evaluating character first.” 

On if Saturday was Micah’s best and most physical game:

Golden: “You know what? Even though he produced really well against Georgia – 23 and 17 – I really thought his most impactful game, in terms of winning, might have been Saturday. He played so hard. One of the areas I challenged him before the game was with his physicality. I told him, ‘These guys are not going to back down. They’re going to try to hit you every chance they get.’ To his credit, I thought it was by far his most physical game. He set the tone. And to do that with Johni, Jaylen Williams and Dylan Cardwell — that great frontcourt – that’s a huge challenge. I thought he ran to the fight instead of running away from it. He defensively, changed the game in the first half.” 

On whether that’s the new bar for him now:

Golden: “Hopefully. Is he going to hit that every night? Who knows? But we know what his capacity is at this point. And, again, to do it against a physical and veteran frontcourt was a huge step for us.” 

On Handlogten helping set the tone early:

Golden: “Yeah. I thought our starting group going up 9-0, then 13-2 or whatever it was, got us going. But then our bench came in and kept it going. We got up 24-9 or whatever it was. Obviously, got it up to 29 in the second half. Everybody did their part. Micah was a huge part of it, but I thought Riley and Condo really gave us a lift energy wise. And Tommy Haugh, as well. I would be wrong to not add him. He has been playing so well, and for both of those two young freshmen, in that game, to play so well was huge for us.” 

On his expectations for the LSU game:

Golden: “We have to stay consistent. We have to have a similar effort. Our expectation going into every game, especially at home, is to win. I think we have to make sure we have a similar effort to what we did Saturday for us to say we’re either happy or satisfied. But LSU is coming in and it’s going to be a super big challenge; a different challenge. They’re a different team than Auburn. We have got to make sure we handle success the right way, with great energy.”