Everything Todd Golden said after Florida basketball beat Georgia

4 days ago 2

Florida basketball earned its first victory of the 2026 calendar year on Tuesday night against the Georgia Bulldogs inside the O'Connell Center, 92-77, in what is probably the Gators' biggest victory so far this season.

Neither team shot the lights out, but the Orange and Blue did hold a 46.7% to 41.4% advantage over the visitors. Florida's guards once again struggled from beyond the arc, nailing just 7 of 27 from downtown (25.9%), but the frontcourt once again carried the weight to the finish line.

Following the Gators' first SEC victory this season, Todd Golden spoke to the media about Tuesday night's outcome, reflecting on the difference between it and the previous matchup against the Missouri Tigers. He also spoke a bit about former Florida football coach Urban Meyer's presence at the game.

Todd Golden's opening statement

"Tonight was a game that we needed. An opportunity for us to play against a very good team. Credit to Georgia, obviously they are really hard to guard and they are really good offensively. They stretch you out and have multiple guys that can move on the deck and get to the rim. They have really good guard play, really good guard play. We got off to a good start, and got up nine.

"Unfortunately, it was a little bit of the same feeling where we allowed this team to crawl back and it's a one-point game at halftime. We just kind of talked about it at halftime, 'It's got to be now.' The time is now for us to step up against a good team in a big moment and find a way to get to the finish line. Our guys did a great job in the second half. We defended with great purpose. We held them to 34% in the second half. We did a great job on the glass. I think we were plus-12 in the second half, plus-21 overall.

"We just handled the ball better, until the last two minutes we had a couple of silly turnovers against the press. The things that are important to us. We talk about it a lot, we know our ceiling is not as high with our inconsistent perimeter shooting. To beat a really good Georgia team at home here by 15 is a really good win for our program"

On outscoring Georgia by 20 in the paint

"It's how we are built. It's who we are and I think the more that we accept and take pride in the kind of being the ugly, gritty, physical team. I think we'll continue to see good results. We did that tonight. We were just super physical. I thought our base did a really good job protecting the rim on penetration.

"I thought late, we allowed them to get a couple of offensive rebounds, but for the majority of the game I thought we controlled both sides of the backboard. That battle inside was one that we needed to win tonight and we did that."

Did Golden challenge his team after Missouri loss?

"Both really (the bigs and team). As we talked about, we did beat Missouri on the glass but not by enough. The margin wasn't enough. Tonight, we knew we had to win the boards by double digits. That was what we needed to do to get ourselves the best chance to win and challenge ourselves defensively too. I didn't think we defend well enough against Missouri.

"You know, everybody wants to talk about our offense and our shooting. We scored 41.3% at Missouri and lost. We have to guard happy? To hold this team that's been absolutely phenomenal from two to 49% is fantastic. And the 21% from the 3-point line again it's got to be who we are, and I thought we displayed this evening."

On better defensive play on the 3-point line

"I'd say with the exception of Catchings, we let him get a couple off at the beginning of the second half and Millender making a tough one in the first half but other than that I thought we had great urgency on the perimeter. The way that we play, we're going to live with tough twos overhand, but we're not going to live with good threes. I thought they took some tough ones and I think that shows in their percentage."

On having an eighth guy, and on Isaiah Brown

"It helps us a lot too. I think his effort tonight was great. It wasn't perfect, but told me he'll have a role. I've been very consistent with our guys that compete for that spot. I don't care at all about individual statistical output. I care about one thing, simply whether the score is going up or down when you are in the game.

"That's all I care about. Isaiah played 13 minutes tonight, but was plus-11 minutes. I thought he was fantastic in transition. He got on the glass. He got six rebounds in 13 minutes. He gave us a lift."

On a scoring run in the second half

"Yeah, I mean the way they play, especially on made baskets with their pressure, and, you know, trying to run traps at you, I felt we were a little tentative in the first half trying to attack it, and it led to some turnovers, you know, led to some disorganization. And, you know, we talked a lot about it at halftime, we got to go, you know. We had opportunities, you know, advantage-disadvantage, four on three, three on two, we can't just allow them to get back and set their defense.

"We've got to push it, and I thought he did a really good job of getting paint touches, made a couple layoffs, got to the line, hit his free throws, but it just gave us a good lift. It gave a push, and we played with really good pace in the second half."

On Tommy Haugh's season, playing 36 minutes tonight

"Yeah he's turned himself into one of the better players in America, and has gone from, you know, a hard playing, you know, role player as a freshman to a really, really good complementary piece as a sophomore to now just taking off, I mean to a guy who's going to hear his name called in probably five or six months.

"And it's a testament to his work, his belief, his coachability, you know, he's incredibly coachable. Too coachable sometimes. I want him to yell at his teammates sometimes and be more of a vocal leader, but he's an incredible leader by example, and he is what a Gator is, man, he's great for our program."

Was this was a proof of concept game?

"Yeah I do, I think so. I was talking about it with maybe Carlin or maybe Saf before the game, I felt like this was the first game where we played a really good team this year where, like, we have a little bit of an advantage going up against, you know, playing at home.

"When we played Arizona, we played out in Vegas, they had a huge crowd. When we played Duke, obviously it was at Cameron Indoor. UConn, we were playing in New York, like we played this tough, really tight game and we couldn't get over the hump. And I just felt like, you know, I know we have a really good team, and we just couldn't find a way to get one of those games done.

"Missouri, same deal, they get two guys back, they're hitting tough shots. Credit to them, they played well, but sometimes you want luck to go your way, and we hadn't really felt that. And I thought tonight was an opportunity where we knew we're gonna have the crowd behind us, we're gonna be sleeping in our own beds the night before against a really good team, you know, we had to go out and do it.

"And so to answer your question, yes this was an opportunity for us to go get a big win, and our guys delivered."

On Boogie Fland impacting all facets despite shots not falling

"I thought he played, minus the shooting, and I thought early on he didn't defend well, and then I thought after that he was great. I thought after the first push, when these guys were fresh, getting downhill, we had some trouble keeping them out of the paint. In the second half we did a great job defending, and you know he just gave us that complete point guard game with stuffing the stat sheet, and he's done a great job facilitating all year.

"He had seven assists and one turnover against Missouri, six and three tonight. A couple of them were against good pressure, but you know, like you said, we need him to start knocking down some threes, but the output in all those other areas was fantastic, and he played a very good game tonight."

On Urban Meyer being at the game

"It was awesome, man. I got to meet Coach Meyer, I think it was April or May at the Dick Vitale Gala for the first time. Megan and I got to hang out with him and Shelley a little bit. We had a great time. He loves Florida. He was so ... the way he talked about this place, everything was just like the way I feel about this place.

"So, we kind of hit it off. We text regularly and he hit me earlier this week and he was like, 'Hey, I know you're in it, but I just wanted to remind you I'm coming to that Georgia game. And I said, 'Listen, when we get this thing done, I want you to come talk to my team in the locker room after the game and it was a pretty neat moment, man.

"Especially for Tommy, who grew up a big Gator fan with Tim Tebow on his wall. He worships Urban Meyer. And our guys understand what he was able to do for this place winning a national championship and he was awesome, man. He was really, really positive with our guys. I think they really enjoyed it. And probably the funniest moment was when he realized that Urban's first name is U-r-b-a-n and they both have the same name. I think that was pretty cool.

"And then he sees that from Slovenia up on his locker and he's like, 'I'm from Slovenia also.' And Urbie's like, 'Really?' And he's like, 'No.' But it was pretty awesome. He came in, Brandon Spikes came in and that's one of the many things that's great about this place. This place really appreciates winning and champions and people that aren't afraid to fail and want to be the best. And to have Coach Meyer and Spikes in the locker room celebrating with us was really cool."

On Meyer's message to the team

"Just that he's been watching us all year and appreciates the way our guys compete. He said that he's retired now and he's going to be around a lot more. So our guys were pretty excited about that."

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball's Todd Golden talks after beating Georgia Bulldogs

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