Florida basketball head coach Todd Golden was largely complimentary of his team following a third consecutive win, the most recent coming on Sunday by 30 points against Colgate.
Golden focused on the improvement of his backcourt, namely the starting tandem of Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee, noting a level of comfort unseen as recently as three weeks ago. He also made sure to give kudos to starting center Rueben Chinyelu, agreeing that he’s the “unsung hero” of the roster.
Florida’s effort level for the bulk of the game also impressed Golden, especially coming just before Christmas break, when players can mentally check out against weaker opponents. He specifically mentioned Micah Handlogten and Alex Kovatchev’s playing well off the bench as a sign of improved depth on the roster.
Golden can often nitpick the little things in wins with large point differentials, but he didn’t to much of that this time around.
Here’s everything he said:
Opening statement
“Honestly, really, really pleased with our effort today. I thought this kind of contest against a really solid, well-coached Colgate team could be a trap, can be a trouble game when you have guys that are all taking off to go out of town to see the families, to get a break. We’ve played a tough schedule, and Colgate might not bring the same jing that some of these other opponents that we played have. But I thought our guys did a great job of respecting the opportunity to compete today and having a really good systematic effort.
“I thought we did a good job on the game plan, minus giving up the 3-point line a little bit to two guys. We dominated on the glass, which we emphasized — we knew we needed to do — and by far our best job taking care of the ball in a long time.
“Obviously, that last group had some bad turnovers. But, for the first 36 minutes, to only have four turnovers, that was some really good growth by this group and provided us the opportunity to have a big win. So, really pleased with this type of effort going into break, and it allows us to enjoy these next couple days a little more.”
On growth over the first half of the season
“Multiple guys are getting more comfortable. The obvious one for me is obviously Zay (Xaivian) Lee’s playing really well and started shooting the ball well, started scoring for us. This is another game where he’s had multiple assists, zero turnovers, so that’s giving us a big lift. Our guards, I think, are playing better and more comfortably, and I thought Micah (Handlogten) gave us really good minutes today. I just think we’re getting more comfortable. That is the best way I can answer that question.
“Looking forward to coming back, playing Dartmouth and then getting in SEC play and see how we look against some better competition.”
On Rueben Chinyelu’s touch around the rim
“He deserves a lion’s share of the credit. When he decided was coming back after testing, we would see him in the gym every morning just lathered in sweat before 10 a.m. — and just a beast. Rueben is a very special human being. The way he attacks everything he does. He’s really bright, mature, and very prideful. And for him, even though he shot a high percentage, I think he wanted the opportunity to go try to score a little more around the rim, maybe get some more post touches.
“He’s earned it. And to his credit, finishing through contact better, he’s been better from the foul line over the course of the whole season. Had a little dip the last couple of weeks, but he’s been great that way. He’s one of, if not the best, defending big men in America with that as well. So, just just a great player and he deserves a ton of credit for the growth he’s shown.”
On Xaivian Lee leading the team in scoring recently
“He’s playing with a lot more confidence and a lot more freedom. There’s a lot of things in this new era that you don’t necessarily account for when you get guys. He’s played with the ball in his hands a ton, and we have him playing off the ball with Boog. And I think we as a staff have done a good job better job recently kind of manufacturing more opportunities for him to play out of that high-ball screen where where he’s really comfortable.
“I think he’s attacking in transition better, and he’s shooting the ball better. So we need him to be that for us to be the best we can be. So, him kind of shape running into that form has allowed us over the last six games, to play some really consistent basketball, even though we lost a couple of those against really good teams.
“But really, since the Providence game, we’ve played like a top-15, top-20 team in every game. Him coming on has been a big part of that.”
On Alex Kovatchev earning more minutes
“It’s him earning the opportunity. He’s played well in practice. We’ve kind of given some other guys a little bit of a head start that we thought would be able to bring us a little more upside. But I mean, everybody saw when he came in the other night against Saint Francis that he played with great pop, shot-ready but playmade for others.
“So, for us, it’s like, man, this guy is doing everything we’re asked him to do. He defends hard. He’s a good athlete. Wanted to give him a rip in that kind of third sub of the game. You wouldn’t look at his stat line and be blown away, but his plus-minus was really damn good.
“That’s kind of the only thing we care about right now in that role is come in and make sure, you know, we either hold water or go the right way. And in his 12 minutes, he’s plus 16. He defended, he did his job and made sure the score was going the right way. I think he’ll be able to do that for us a little bit.”
On Boogie Fland’s defense
“Boog does a lot of things really well that don’t necessarily get noticed all the time by many people. You obviously noticed the defense, set the point, put the pressure on really good ball handlers. He’s seen a lot of good matchups this year. Hasn’t won them all, but done a really good job in most of them.
“I thought (Jalen) Cox was a guy that we were awfully concerned about. He’s a really talented player. He did a really good job against Michigan State, did a good job against Illinois, some of their high-major opponents. He forced him into five turnovers. He was -36. We did a good job on him today.
“I think Boog’s going to be a guy that keeps us together. We want him playing with great pace, playing in the paint, making good paint decisions, and I thought he did a good job that way today.”
On overall guard growth
“It’s just a function of reps and a function of getting through our schedule a little bit and just competing. We knew it was going to take a little time. We had that group last year together — Walt and Will for a couple of years. These guys are new coming into our program. Boog’s young. Boog’s 19. You know, Zay Lee’s coming in from the Ivy. Obviously, it’s a new level. We knew it was going to take some time for these guys to get super, super comfortable, but they’ve been much better over the last couple of weeks.”
On Chinyelu being an unsung hero
“Incredibly instrumental in terms of his physicality, the way he can rim run in transition, his ability to protect the rim on defense. We obviously play multiple bigs, so we need to have depth in the frontcourt to be able to do that. Him and Micah, we believe by the end of the year, you know, should be the best front, five-man tandem in America.
“Rube has continued to grow, and I think, again, as you said, might be the unsung hero sometimes, but internally, we know how valuable he is. He’s a huge part of our success last year and this year.”
On Dave Klatsky’s history with Colgate
“When you have these opportunities, competing against coaches you know, or staff’s you’ve been on, you’ve got to do your best you can to use your knowledge to give yourself the best chance. But also it can’t be personal, and where you allow other things to become more important.
“But he did a great job. You know, obviously, him and Matt are great friends. They played together at Penn. I think he knows that program pretty well. So we had some good ideas about what they wanted to do against us today. And he did a great job preparing us. To get up 37 against that team is hard to do. Our guys played well today and we had a good game plan.”
On allowing 3-point shots
“I think we gave (Kyle) Carlesimo — mainly him and some others — too many open looks. Sam Wright’s a capable shooter. I think he was 23% coming into the game. We knew they were going to let him fly. So initially, they beat the scout a little bit on his first two, because that was what we were going to live with. We adjusted and started going to the one-five switch to kind of get him off the line. Did a better job that way.
“But big-picture-wise, we limited their threes, so that was a positive. Obviously, them shooting 64% is not ideal. But one thing we were just talking about as a staff is for them to be able to shoot, make 11 threes — 64 from three — and for us to still win by 30 means we did a lot of things really well.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Todd Golden talks win over Colgate, Florida’s backcourt improvement
Reporting by David Rosenberg, Gators Wire / Gators Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
