‘We just didn't deliver’: Todd Golden reacts to Florida's loss vs. Arizona

A career-high 27 points from Thomas Haugh wasn’t enough for the third-ranked Florida Gators in their season-opening loss against No. 13 Arizona, 93-87, on Monday. UF missed two corner 3-pointers in the final minute of the game and shot 7-for-27 from downtown (25.9%), including 3-for-16 in the second half (16.9%).

Here’s everything Florida coach Todd Golden said after the loss in his postgame interview with Sean Kelley.

RELATED: Live Blog: Arizona Wildcats 93, Florida 87

Todd Golden Q&A

On his thoughts from the loss to Arizona:

TODD GOLDEN: “Disappointing. There were things that we did out there that were a little uncharacteristic. Credit to Arizona. I thought, you know, they were very physical. We’ve talked a lot about how good our frontcourt is, and we just didn’t deliver tonight. I thought they were more physical than us. They beat us on the glass. And that’s something that, you know, for us to be the best we can be, we gotta win the battle on the boards every night. And I thought we were really, really loose with the ball in the second half, you know? We have good ball control guards, we have bigs that can handle it. And in a game like this where you’re playing a team that has potential to be a second, third weekend team, you can’t have nine turnovers in the second half. You know, giving them runout dunks and just not capitalizing on some opportunities. So those are things that, you know, I think we can get right. That should be a strength of our team, but tonight we just didn’t do those things well enough to win.”

On Florida having a chance to win at the end:

TODD GOLDEN: “I thought we showed some moxie and some grit down the stretch. We were down 9 or 10, I think, with two and a half minutes to go. And, you know, new team, new guys, I thought we did a good job staying together and not panicking and trying to make hero plays. Listen, with about 30 or 40 seconds to go, we have a corner three to tie it. And on the next play down, we have another wide-open corner three to cut it to one. So, our guys stayed the course, made some big plays. I thought Tommy did a great job for 40 minutes competing really well and keeping the guys together. And listen, we fell a little short, but we showed some heart down the stretch.”

On UF making just three 3-pointers in the second half:

TODD GOLDEN: “You gotta make some big shots to win games like this. And I thought when we had to step up and make them, we did not down the stretch. We missed some other opportunities earlier in the second half, but I think the bigger issue was our deficiency on the glass and taking care of the ball. There’s going to be some nights where you miss some open shots. And our goal as a program is to be a high floor team where you can afford to miss some and still come up with a victory. And tonight, we just weren’t able to do that.”

On what stood out about Haugh’s career-high performance:

TODD GOLDEN: “Everything. I mean, he’s just a great player. I think he’s the prototypical winning player. You put him out there, no matter where he is, and he’s going to find ways to impact the game positively. And obviously, we didn’t take him off the court in the second half. Didn’t feel like we could continue playing the way we needed to without him. And he’s growing into being one of the better players in America. And he did a great job keeping us together and keeping us in the game down the stretch.”

On the teachable moments for Florida from this game:

TODD GOLDEN: “A lot of a lot of great things. You know, it’s always more enjoyable to teach after your victory, but there were very specific things, specifically on the glass, taking care of the ball. And then defensively, we’ve got to be able to guard our yard a little bit better. I thought Bradley really bothered us with the middle ball screens. He did a good job getting downhill. I thought we did a poor job defending without fouling. Sent him to line 10 times, and then credit to their freshman. Peat, you know, I thought that was a matchup we’d have a good chance to win tonight, and we certainly did not. He kicked our butt tonight.”