After opening the season 5-4 and briefly dropping out of the top 25, Florida basketball ultimately finished right where it expected to be.
The early struggles proved temporary as the Gators surged back to claim at least a share of the SEC regular-season championship — just where the preseason polls had predicted and right where expectations had placed them.
This was illustrated as Gators head coach Todd Golden cut down the net inside the O’Dome and eventually chucked into the crowd after Florida’s 111-77 victory over Arkansas helped seal part of UF’s first regular-season title since the 2013-14 season.
“The credit that this team deserves more than anything is staying together, believing in each other when guys weren’t playing at their best, not pointing fingers,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “Our staff did a great job of keeping our guys aligned and on the same page. Even when we were 5-4, we thought we had a chance to have a special season if we just improved incrementally over the rest of the year and we’ve done that. I think we’re playing as good as anybody in America right now.”
Not to mention, Florida clinches the top seed of the SEC tournament as the Gators went perfect this past month. Should UF defeat Mississippi State this coming Tuesday then Florida will be the outright conference champs.
“Love it,” Golden said. “Didn’t lose in February, got to try not to lose in March either.”
In the past two years under coach Todd Golden, Florida has gone 50-19 and 27-6 in SEC play. This season, Florida has run the table in the conference going 14-2, winning 14 of its past 15 games, which included eight ranked opponents.
“We got a lot to still accomplish,” Golden said. “This can’t be the best thing that happened to us this year. Not only are we playing to be lone champs on Tuesday, but I told the guys, we’re playing to become the best seed possible. Because of the way we played in the month of February, we’ve opened up a lot of opportunities for ourselves down the stretch.”
The Gators rebranded their identity midseason and emerged as not only one of the best rebounding teams in the country, but also defensive.
Entering the matchup against Arkansas, Florida led the nation in rebounding margin at plus-14.1, averaging 15.8 offensive rebounds and 45.2 total rebounds per game. UF was also third in second-chance points per game at 16.2, sixth in two-point defense at .448 and seventh in defensive rebounding percentage at 75.4.
Florida has turned the corner in the past eight games as the Gators have outshot opponents .519 to .374 from the field and .365 to .292 from the 3-point line. During that span, UF has outscored teams by 20.5 while dishing out an average of 19.3 assists.
Despite there still being two games left in the season, Florida will now begin making a case to become a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for a second straight year.
“If we take care of business and play really well, there’s not a seed out there that is unattainable for us,” Golden said. “Obviously there’s other teams competing for it, but we have a lot that’s under our control down the stretch here.”
This story was updated.
Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at AAbadie@usatodayco.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at Andrew Abadie Sports Reporter or on Instagram @andrewabadie_sports.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida basketball claims SEC regular season title
Reporting by Andrew Abadie, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
