Todd Golden on stopping Oscar Tshiebwe without Colin Castleton

Tonight, Kentucky will try to complete its second straight SEC sweep vs. Florida in Gainesville. The Cats beat the Gators 72-67 earlier this month in Lexington. Kentucky led that game wire-to-wire, but Colin Castleton kept Florida within striking distance with 25 points and 8 rebounds. The Gators’ star center owned the matchup with Oscar Tshiebwe, who finished with four points on 2-14 from the field and 15 rebounds.

Florida will be without Castleton, its leading scorer and rebounder, tonight after the big man broke his hand in the win over Ole Miss last week. The Gators dropped their first game without Castleton Saturday at Arkansas. The Razorbacks beat Florida 84-65 in large part because they dominated inside. Arkansas outrebounded Florida 40-25 and had 52 points in the paint to the Gators’ 36.

“When Colin’s out, everybody has to step up,” Florida coach Todd Golden said yesterday. “We’ve got to be better defensively than we were on Saturday, we’ve got to be better on the glass. We’ve got to find a way to scrap out some extra possessions on the glass.”

“We did a great job on Oscar the first time,” Golden said of the first meeting with Kentucky. “Colin was a big part of that. We’ve got to do a better job collectively of helping each other out knowing that it’s probably going to be hard for one guy to just load up and stop him for 40 minutes.”

“They really haven’t changed how they play but it’s just different personnel,” Kentucky assistant coach KT Turner said on Tuesday. “Castleton is a really, really good player, one of the top bigs in the country. You can tell they were a little uncomfortable playing the last two games but I’m sure they’ll be ready to play against us, but they haven’t really changed how they’ve been playing from what we’ve seen on film.”

Jason Jitoboh, Aleks Szymczyk vs. Oscar

Without Castleton vs. Arkansas, Florida started 6-11, 300 lbs. senior center Jason Jitoboh, who finished with only four points and two rebounds in 25 minutes. Freshman forward Aleks Szymczyk gave the Gators a boost off the bench with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, a block, and an assist. Golden said Florida will rely on both to try to slow down Oscar tonight.

“I don’t think he played great vs. Arkansas but his effort was there,” Golden said of Jitoboh. “He was trying. I thought he did a really good job of his physicality in the paint. He just didn’t score a lot and missed some passes that I think he’ll catch tomorrow night. The area we need him to continue to help us is on the glass. Be physical, continue to use his body to keep the other bigs off the glass. I’m impressed with his wind and the fact that he’s been able to play minutes consistently without getting tired because obviously he’s had short minutes during the course conference play.”

Jitoboh played a season-high 24 minutes vs. Arkansas. Against Kentucky earlier this month, he only played three. Even though Jitoboh’s numbers vs. the Razorbacks weren’t great, Golden praised his play vs. Ole Miss in the game prior.

“I thought he was really, really good against Mississippi down the stretch, playing 15 minutes straight or whatever it was,” Golden said. “Talk about opportunity. He’s a guy that I look at like, hey, your time is now. He did a good job last year, going back and watching the tape from when Colin was out, stepping in for him. I think he’ll play a better game tomorrow night.”

Before Saturday’s game at Arkansas, Szymczyk had only played in six games, never finishing with more than two points or two rebounds or playing more than three minutes. In Fayetteville, he played 20.

“I thought he was really good. Obviously, he had some mistakes and wasn’t perfect, but the guy’s first real rip was at Bud Walton, one of the hardest places to play in America,” Golden said. “The most impressive thing was he wasn’t scared. He had a great mentality. Stepping on the court against older guys, good players. Stepped up and hit two big shots. Was really pleased and happy for him he was able to perform so well…We’re going to ride with him down the stretch without Colin.”

Golden on adjusting to life without Castelon

Losing your top scorer and rebounder with five games to go in the regular season isn’t ideal. Golden said he’s refusing to give up on the season and is making sure his players do the same.

“You can only control the controllables. We couldn’t control the fact that Colin went out so if I sat here and pouted about it, I’d be a loser, is the way I think about it. That’s the challenge for myself, our staff, our team.”

“I still feel like we can compete,” Golden added. “We have four games left in the regular season. All four are winnable games for us one way or the other. Obviously, it’s going to be more difficult now but I want to make sure our guys are going about it with the mentality of, we’re trying to win these games. We’re not okay just being competitive. We want to go out on Wednesday and beat Kentucky. I don’t want to give them the out. ‘Hey, we’re without Colin, it’s okay.’ It ain’t okay. We’re not who we were for the first 26 games but I still have confidence in our guys.”

Feels like a big Oscar Tshiebwe night to me.