What Todd Golden said after his team’s near collapse vs LSU
Florida basketball earned its seventh win in 11 tries against Southeastern Conference opponents on Tuesday night with an 82-80 victory over the LSU Tigers inside the O’Connell Center.
However, once again the Gators attempted to seize defeat from the jaws of victory, squandering a 20-point advantage and allowing the visitors to tie the game with just over 90 seconds remaining. This is a trend that has been witnessed far too often this season and the fanbase is growing quite weary of it.
Head coach Todd Golden is also frustrated with his team’s late-game proclivity for collapse. He spoke with the sports media after the game about that topic and more.
Opening Statement, Pt. 1
Obviously really pleased with the outcome. Not pleased with the recurring theme of some of our second halves lately.
But it’s just not as simple as “Hey, you know, got to do some things better.” In the big picture, you know, we’ve been playing really good ball, won six out of the last seven in one of if not the best leagues in America, and we’re building these double-digit leads against really good teams, you know.
And I look at LSU, I know their win-loss record in league isn’t great, but that is a talented team. They are super talented, they have weapons. Jalen Cook can make shots from all over the floor, Baker’s a super tough cover, unconventional in our league for pick-and-pop five-man to play like that, and then you’re got Jordan Wright, Tyrell Ward, one of the better shooters around. You know, I was concerned about covering them.
Opening Statement, Pt. 2
I thought our energy and enthusiasm covered up a lot in the first half, maybe the first 26, 27 minutes, and then, a little fatigue and then a similar issue where we have a couple of empty possessions and we’re out of transition-alignment defensively, give up a three and then they come down, and to their credit, are ramming us at the rim.
And we’re not doing a good enough job of staying vertical, staying in legal guarding position, allowing them to get to the foul line and then allowing them to set up their zone. And now we have that same story over and over again, so I need to do a better job with our guys.
You know, I’ve been really pouring into our energy and effort being our main priority at practice, and our guys have done a really good job with that, and I think you guys can see the growth in that area of our team. But our half-court execution especially against zone or junk defenses has not been nearly good enough. And that’s not on Hov, that’s on me, I need to make sure we spend enough time on those things in practice, and we just haven’t done that.
So we’ll give our guys tomorrow off and we’ll address Thursday or Friday before we head to Georgia on Saturday.
On what made their zone so effective
Just thought we had trouble penetrating it, you know, zone is you’re in theory trying to play stickier defensively, and I thought it did that first half. I thought they were not sticky defensively, and it allowed us to get a lot of uncontested rim shots in the second half. Super sticky, and then miss some good looks from three that, you know, you gotta bust the zone a little bit.
The way we played on Saturday, no defense was really gonna bother us, we were shooting the ball so well. Tonight, when they play that, you got to make them pay. Either with some good catch-and-shoot threes or some second chances, I think we had 13 offensive rebounds in the second half which didn’t equate to as many points as it usually does for us.
I haven’t watched it, but that’s just what sticks out and, you know, we need to take the top off that zone by banging a couple shots and I think it would take a little stress off of our shoulders.
On if the defense took a step back due to LSU’s three-point success
They’re a different cover, first of all. They’re way different than Auburn, they’re way different than A&M. They’re going to spread you out, they have a really good shooter at the five, so, again, concerned in the sense of we’re not used to guarding a team like this very often in our league, and I think that bothered us early in the contest.
I thought we did a really good job probably from like the 12-minute mark in the first half to the end of the first half to really guard them and score, built that 14-point lead. And then again, second half, I think they made five threes in the first half, five of 12, and I said I don’t want any more threes in the second half, we can’t give them any more threes – well they got 6, and it almost cost us the ball-game.
So I just think we were a little fatigued down the stretch. We got away from ourselves a little bit, but found a way.
On Zyon’s steal late
I just saw the ball pop out, saw him get on the floor, make a good advance pass to Tyrese. I thought Tyrese was going to take it, but he dishes to Walt, and made a really tough contested layup that could have been an and-1, probably, and just a winning play down the stretch by a winning player.
And, honestly, at the last possession, obviously he got kind of crossed up a little bit and we were in scramble mode, and did just enough to prevent Wright from making a relatively short floater. But it was kind of a broken player and there was a lot of scrambling around there.
On emotions in the huddle after they tied the game
I think there was frustration more than anything else, you know, it’s like, “Damn, we’re in this situation, again?” You know, after building a lead. But I don’t think we were discouraged or I didn’t feel like we had lost any sort of confidence or any sort of hope. Came out and… I don’t even remember.
What’d we do after the timeout? I don’t even remember. But, our mindset was fine. Obviously, there wasn’t elation. We weren’t happy with what had transpired, but our guys are, at this point in the season battle tested, especially in this type of situation and, you know, we did what we needed to down the stretch.
On continuing to squander leads at home
You know, it’s hard to say, I don’t know if that’s necessarily an issue. It’s not affecting us negatively first halves here, you know, so it’s just part of getting good man. It’s hard to get these leads that we’ve been getting, even harder to keep them there.
We talked about it a couple of weeks ago, I believe it was the Georgia game, or maybe it was Mississippi State, but when a team gets down, double digits or 20, they have no fear of failure at that point. They’re just going to play with freedom. They’re going to try to be really aggressive, driving down the middle the paint and, you know, not have any fear of failure on their threes and I feel like that’s happened.
Again, we got a little tight, late and that’s something that you can talk about, address it, but when we’re in the moment, human nature takes over a little bit.
On Alex Condon's growth in SEC play
He’s doing great. Had a great night tonight, way more efficient offensively than he had been. Another good rim-protecting game. And, you know, he had to shoot free throws late, made one, big one, which kind of took a little bit of pressure off that last possession.
When you can play him and Tommy combined 30 minutes, you know, like we have been in SEC games and be winning the way we do, I think it says a lot about them. Both as players and as competitors, you know, to be able to be a freshman in this league and play the way have been.
On how Condon's improved free throw shooting changes the way he can use him
A ton. Condon’s playing late games, you know, especially in fast situations or one-possession games and, you know, I think I’ve talked about him a lot in terms of how much I appreciate his competitiveness and you can’t flap that dude out there. You know, he’s pretty nails in that way. So, we were, again, happy to see him get to catch and go to the line.
Obviously, you want Walt, you want ZP, Will — guys like that. But from a big standpoint, Condo would be the one in the late game we’d want out there.
On fear of failure creeping in when lead shrinks
I think yeah, like I said, there’s a little bit of that human nature piece of like, “Alright, let’s just hold on,” you know, as opposed to let’s just keep our foot off the gas.
Now, the disappointing thing is on Saturday, we kept our foot on the gas. We kept going, the lead kept going the right, built it up to 29. Tonight, up 14 at half, got it up to 20. So obviously, we’re doing some things right early in the second half. Again, we just ran into an issue that we even having.
But, like I said, it’s hard to win and we’re 7-4 in SEC play right now. So, you know, proud of our guys for finding a way in these games.
On where Zyon Pullin's midrange game ranks among players he's coached
Number one, probably. My two guards in San Francisco were really good in midrange. But, you know, he just has an ability to use his physicality, get guys off the spot and just kind of raise it up and knock it down. Those are like layups for him to be honest.
I think he shoots around 50% in the midrange, which is kind of uncanny. I thought he got a little fatigued late, and I’m probably playing him a few too many minutes. But, we get that extra day off before Georgia, so I think he’ll be good and ready to go.
On importance of late first-half run to final outcome
It was very important, knowing how close it got. If we didn’t have that 14-point lead and they outscored us by 12 in the second half, we would have been in trouble. It separated for us a little bit. I thought we were confident at halftime, you know, that we had a really good run right before halftime. But, again, building leads is obviously super important, especially for us.
Next up
Golden and the Gators next travel to Athens for a rematch with the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday, Feb. 17. Tipoff is slated for an early 1 p.m. start and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
Read more
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PHOTOS: Highlights from Florida’s narrow win over LSU Tigers
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