WATCH: Todd Golden reacts to Gators' season-ending loss in NIT
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Todd Golden’s inaugural season at Florida ended Wednesday with an uncompetitive 67-49 loss to UCF in the National Invitational Tournament, giving UF a losing record (16-17) for the first time in eight years.
The Gators got a 13-point performance from Riley Kugel, who scored in double figures for the 10th straight game, but they shot 20 percent below the Knights (53% vs. 32%), finished with a season-low 49 points and committed 18 turnovers.
In the video below, Golden discusses the Gators’ turnover issues, what the Knights did to force them, his team’s energy (or lack thereof) for the NIT and more.
Todd Golden quotes
On the turnovers:
Golden: “I thought our ball security was really bad, especially in the first half, and I thought that was what really set us back in a big way. Got off to a good start, but stopped taking care of the ball, allowed them to get some runouts and easy baskets. We were up 9-2, and then they were up 22-12, so a 20-3 run right there. I think a lot of it was spurred by those turnovers. Ball security has been an area that we’ve been elite in all year. It’s given us a chance really every game that we’ve been in, for the most part, but tonight we had 13 in the first half and (were) just really uncharacteristic that way. That was the biggest thing early on, I thought that was an issue for us.”
On what UCF’s defense did that forced the turnovers:
Golden: “The ball screen coverage was bothering us, their hard shows, and it bothered us in the first half against Ole Miss, also. We did a better job in the second half of that game. But that got us playing on our heels, and I think a couple of those turnovers were given to (Kyle) Lofton that, a couple of them were him trying to hit the roller and us just not being able to come up with the basketball. Obviously, Kyle is a guy that we usually come in here and it’s reversed and he has five assists and one turnover. Tonight, (that) obviously wasn’t the case, and I think that was a big reason as to why we weren’t very good. But their pressure on the perimeter and the way they stretched things out on screens bothered us…Credit to them in that regard. We were preparing for it, prepared for it, just didn’t attack it very well.”
On the team’s energy:
Golden: “I thought our energy was OK – especially, we’re pressing, trying to speed up the game a little bit – but not to the standard that we expect, necessarily. These games in the postseason, you know, you have a goal of making the NCAA Tournament for so long and it’s something that you’re focusing on and talking about. Obviously, when that doesn’t happen, you have to find a way to rally. The way that we discussed it, the way we talked to our team about it was, any opportunity you get to play postseason, an opportunity like this, you can’t take it for granted. I just didn’t think we had our best tonight. This group has done a really good job since Colin’s injury of rallying and competing and finding a way. I thought we did a really good job of that the last two weeks. We didn’t do as good of a job tonight.”
