Florida head basketball coach praised his team after a 91-67 win over the Tennessee Volunteers at home on Saturday, focusing on Boogie Fland’s breakout performance, Rueben Chinyelu’s development into a dominant frontcourt player and riding a homecourt advantage to victory.
Golden said that the goal coming into the game was to prove they could out-physical a team like Tennessee, and added that the early-season losses to non-conference programs helped prepare the Gators for this moment. All season, Golden has preached that the team will look like an elite program once it starts hitting shots, and Florida’s performance backed that up in the win. Golden wasn’t shy about doubling down on that notion.
Strong defense was another hot topic, be it Florida’s ability to stop the 3-pointer or the guards stepping up on that side of the ball. Turning defense into offense was a big reason why Florida won by so many points. The plan is to continue that trend moving forward in conference play.
Here’s everything Golden said after the game.
Opening Statement
“Really, really happy and really proud of our group that we played our best game of the year. After beating Georgia on Tuesday, we talked a lot about this game being another step for this group, specifically in that we admire Tennessee for what they’ve done in the program since Coach Barnes has been there.
“I think of them as probably the toughest program in the league, and we’re constantly competing to have that title. We talked to our club a lot about it over the last couple of days, that this was a great challenge to see who could be the mentally and physically tougher team. Tennessee’s fantastic, but we played really well today, and I thought our guys, one through eight that got minutes, did a great job of being mentally and physically tough.
“It started on the defensive end. I thought that we did a good job, limited them around the rim. We did a great job taking care of the ball. Only 10 turnovers, and we rebounded. We were plus-11 on the glass, and those are the things that we talk about all the time. As I’ve said to you guys, when we start making some shots, we’re going to be able to run away from some people, and we were able to do that today.”
On winning the turnover margin
“We just value the basketball. With the exception of a couple silly — we had one backcourt outlet turnover, maybe two of those — but other than that, I thought, especially in our half-court, we did a really good job of fighting for really good shots.
“We talked about Tennessee’s ability to defend, and that they’re not going to give you much early in the half-court, and that you’re gonna have to work a little bit side to side to break them down. We did a good job that way. So that was a big reason as why we took care of the ball.
“And then our group, our defense, has to lead to offense for us at times, and I thought we did a great job of that, especially our baseline out-of-bounds D, which was fantastic. It led to some run-out layups, and we just did a great job after the first four minutes of the game, where we were kind of trying to feel it out, of executing our game plan of keeping them out of the middle.”
On limiting 3-pointers by Tennessee
“Yeah. I mean, it’s a staple in the way we guard and what’s important to us. Especially once we got out to a little bit of a lead, we made sure our guys understood how important it was to make them operate inside the three. We didn’t want to give them opportunities to get back in the ball game.
“Ament hit a couple. I thought Gillespie had a couple of tough ones off the bounce in the first half, but other than that, we did a really good job guarding the three-point line.”
On Boogie Fland’s haircut
“I think he looks great. I think he looked great before, but I think he looks clean. For him, sometimes these things can be mental, and it just gave him an opportunity to kind of start fresh. He played fantastic from start to finish. He defended very well. Kind of in the middle 20 of the game, he took over offensively and scored a majority of his points.
“That gave the rest of the guys a lot of confidence. Seeing him play freely, knock down two threes in the first half, start, and get downhill in transition — it just kind of took a lot of the pressure and a little bit of stress off everybody else. Once he started playing like that, we really took off.”
On Chinyelu’s ability to get to his spots, set the tone physically
“Yeah, I mean, it’s incredibly critical. I think he’s growing into one of the best frontcourt players in the land. We talked a lot about, in this game specifically, winning the battle of the paint. They play two bigs. We play two bigs. Both teams like to screen assists in the lane. Both teams use their bigs as screeners a lot, and then both teams are relentlessly trying to create second-chance opportunities.
“So we challenged those guys to win that battle. Rueben had 16 rebounds. Okpara had one. He did it. He dominated. And that stretch in the second half where we were able to get him some deep post catches over there on the right block — just his patience and his ability to get to his left shoulder and find a way to finish — that was kind of the back breaker that allowed us to get an insurmountable lead.”
On early-season challenges impacting SEC play
“The value of playing the non-conference schedule, for this week, is when you play a team like Georgia, who’s very good and playing like a top-30 team, you’re not surprised. You’re like, all right, well, we’ve played Arizona, we’ve played UConn, we’ve played Duke. We’ve seen really good teams. So this isn’t necessarily anything new.
“I think that’s where that experience comes in. And same for today, because you can talk about the physicality that Tennessee brings, and you can talk about their size, but you can’t really experience it until you get on the floor, unless you play other teams like that.
“I think Arizona is a team that’s very physical, very big in the front court. Duke has some really physical frontcourt players. UConn as well. So taking our lumps early in the year, falling short against those teams, is tough mentally and allowed us to fight through a little adversity and continue to stick together. It definitely was a positive for us today.”
On ending the first half on a 10-0 run
“It was huge. I think we were tied at 26 or something before that, and we got a three. I think we came back, gave a bucket, and then we ran out on a 10–0 run. Going into halftime up 13 is a lot more comfortable than going in up three. It gave us a little bit of good juice and confidence and belief that if we could go out there and continue defending in the second half, that we’d be in good shape.”
On Fland having four steals
“Yeah, I thought he was incredibly disruptive. After the first media (timeout) of the game, you could tell, like, in real time, the weight of the world being lifted off his shoulders after that first shot went in. And then getting that steal on the baseline out of bounds that he turned into a tough finish. You could just see (it).
“All of us felt like, man, we were all just so happy for him that individually he could start having more success and be able to play with that freedom that allows him to do that. When he’s at his best, he’s disruptive defensively. He’s a pest on the ball. He’s creating transition opportunities through his defense, and I thought he played a great game today, start to finish.”
On Urban Klavzar’s growth as a defender
‘One thing I’ll tell you about Urb is he’s incredibly tough — mentally and physically — and he wants the challenge. The great thing about him is he’ll get beat, but he’s never going to run away from it. He’s going to continue to step back up and take that challenge. I thought he did a wonderful job on Gillespie.
“Gillespie is a mental-toughness cover in the sense that you can’t relax. You can’t for a second be like, ‘Oh, I’m good,’ because when you do that, he’s going to rip off a screen or find a shot. Urby’s toughness defensively, being able to stay in his body, stay engaged, not get beat off the screen — it was huge for us. I thought this was his best defensive game of the year.
“It showed him being plus-23 in 28 minutes.”
On turning Florida into a tough homecourt team
“Yeah, it’s awesome, man. It’s what you think about with big-time college basketball and successful programs. I think we’ve won 37 of our last 39. Credit to the fans and our supporters. I mean, it’s an incredible home-court advantage. We got off to that little run. I think we went up 36–28. They called a timeout, and it was deafening in here.
“That makes the guys play better. It gives us more confidence, and we have a lot of respect and appreciation for the support we receive at home. It’s part of being a great program. You need your home court to be an advantage. You’ve got to be in here and expect to win games and play really well. Having 11,000 behind you is a big part of that.”
On having former players coming back and visiting
“I think it says a lot about the players in our program and the success we’ve been able to have, because the reality is those guys aren’t coming back unless they’re excited to watch the team play and excited to be a part of the venue. I mean, that’s just reality.
“They have lives and they have things that they’re capable of doing, but it means a lot to us. To have Vernon (Maxwell) back was awesome. He was in the locker room with us after the game. Just to see, for our players to see, how the level of respect he had on his face for their effort is equal to or greater than anything we can say.
“This guy has done it. He’s played in NBA championships. He’s won championships. He’s been a part of great teams, and he’s in there talking to the guys about how much he admires how hard they play and how tough they fight.
“Mike Miller being here — same idea. We want our greats to be back and to be back around, and we want to be able to play and produce a product that they’re excited about. So, it was just a great, great day for our program today, for sure.”
How do you replicate this on the road?
“It’s the same formula for us. It starts with defending and rebounding and taking care of the ball. We didn’t defend and rebound well enough in Missouri. We scored well enough. We didn’t play great offensively, but we were 1.1 points per possession. We just didn’t guard and didn’t finish possessions well enough.
“So, we came back and really focused on that, and we’ll do that again for Oklahoma. They’re a very good offensive team. We’ve got to guard really well. We’ve got to rebound and allow our defense to help our offense. Hopefully, we’ll continue to get some makes from the perimeter like we did today. And if we do that, we’re going to be tough the rest of the way.”
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball HC Todd Golden post-game quotes vs. Tennessee Vols
