WATCH: Todd Golden reacts to loss as UF outscored by 30 points from 3
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The 3-point line told the story in Florida’s 88-80 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday, as the Commodores shot 12-for-23 beyond the arc to UF’s 2-for-20.
The matchup featured a battle inside between Colin Castleton and Liam Robbins, who outdueled him with 32 points and three of Vandy’s 12 makes from 3-point range.
Castleton posted 25 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Gators (13-12, 6-6 SEC), who have lost three games in a row in SEC play and four of their last five contests overall.
In the video below, Golden discusses the Gators’ loss to Vanderbilt, their struggles defending the 3-point line and the performance by Robbins, who had a career-best game.
Todd Golden quotes
On the loss to Vanderbilt:
Todd Golden: “Obviously disappointing. That’s the main thought. What allowed us to get pretty good, with the Tennessee game, winning six of seven in league or whatever we were able to do, we were getting really good at controlling the controllables, doing the things that don’t require talent necessarily and being really good at those things. Then when the things that do require talent were going our way, we were really good. I thought today, we did a poor job that way. I’m going to ever get too upset about missed free throws. I know our guys are trying to make free throws. I’m not going to get upset and criticizes are two for 20 from the 3. Obviously, our guys are trying to make shots. We were really bad at executing things that are really important to our team, to our program. A huge part of that was our inability to defend the 3-point line today and that’s something that, as long as I’m the coach today, is going to be a huge emphasis of our program. We had gotten really good that way. Bama was a different story, today was the same issue and we got to get that right real quick.”
On what’s been the issue defending the 3:
Golden: “A couple of different things. I think engagement, mental engagement was a big issue today. Some things whether it was baseline out of bounds or not getting to shooters quick enough, not locking in on personnel was probably a big part of that.”
On the performance by Liam Robbins:
Golden: “He played really, really well obviously and was effective all over the floor. I thought after that first crazy start to the game where we went 11 minutes or so without a whistle, I thought we did a better job inside the three guarding him and he hit some big time threes, some back-breakers, some daggers. Similar to what he did against Tennessee in the first half the other night where he was throwing them in from all over the place. You got to tip your cap to him a little bit. But as crazy as it is, I can live with what he was doing inside the three, it’s the effort of stunting on his three point shots as well as letting a guy like Trey Thomas get four 3s. That is going to hurt tonight and I want to go back and watch the game.”
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