Todd Golden Talks Florida Basketball After Scrimmage Against FIU

University of Florida men’s basketball head coach Todd Golden recently spoke on the team’s progress leading up to their upcoming season opener in less than two weeks.

Start of Scrimmages

The Gators are ranked No. 21 in the AP Preseason Top 25 Poll. They started playing scrimmages to help prepare for their season opener on Nov. 4 against USF. Florida recently played in one of its two pre-season closed scrimmages last Saturday, winning 80-49 against Florida International University.

The win gave Golden an idea of how the team needs to play this season and what areas still need improvement.

Golden said there is still room for clean-up across the board. He noted that the team’s defense was solid, but the offense did not execute perfectly. Golden said the “big picture looked good,” but there is still room for improvement.

Golden also mentioned the rim protection was good, only giving up 49 points in the contest. However, he also acknowledged the team’s poor rebounding during the scrimmage, saying his squad did not block out enough and wasn’t quick enough to the ball. Golden mentioned they will work on that in practice before their next scrimmage. In order for the Gators to be a winning team, the rebound percentage has to be high, as it will buy them extra points throughout the game. Finally, Golden said the team’s overall physicality was not good enough.

“We need to remember why we got good last year. We were very physical. We wore teams down as the game went on.”

Even when key players are out, Golden wants the whole team to play harder in order to beat the best teams on their schedule.

New Plan for the New Season

Golden mentioned that last year’s defense did not force as many turnovers and fouled too much. This season, the defense will focus on a pressure style to force more turnovers. It worked in the scrimmage against FIU, as the Gators executed many turnovers.

The team is overall ahead of last year’s team at this time. With their highly touted preseason ranking, the team is expected to play strong. These acknowledgements created a good starting point for the Gators where they can improve and continue getting better.

Golden said the environment of the program is positive and there is strong leadership throughout this strong roster. He has built an unselfish team that will “play well together.’

What’s Next

Florida’s scrimmage is at home on Saturday against Charleston. This will likely be a tougher scrimmage, as Charleston is ranked No. 2 in the Coastal Athletic Association conference preseason poll. Charleston played well offensively in its first scrimmage, so the UF defense will need to use its physicality and pressure to cause turnovers and points.

Florida’s season opener is against the University of South Florida on Nov. 4. The game will be at a neutral site, played in Jacksonville.