Florida head coach Todd Golden has mentioned all 12 months that his crew continues to be determining the best way to play its greatest basketball, and on Wednesday evening every thing clicked throughout a 13-point upset victory over No. 2 Tennessee.
The Gators confirmed flashes of brilliance towards lesser opponents earlier within the season, however the crew hasn’t fared as effectively towards Quadrant 1 and a pair of opponents. Coming into the Tennessee recreation, Florida had simply two wins towards Q1 and Q2 opponents in 11 possibilities. Shut losses to Auburn, Florida Atlantic and Texas A&M (twice) are resume killers, however now the crew has lastly made good on Golden’s phrase.
“Clearly, this crew’s had a whole lot of ups and downs when it comes to the leads to video games,” Golden mentioned throughout his post-game press convention. “I felt fairly strongly, and I’ve talked to you guys about the truth that I really feel like we’re higher than our file indicated, even by a few of these stretches. I’m simply extremely pleased with our guys for placing an effort like that collectively for 40 minutes.”
It’s not misplaced on the first-year head coach how huge of a win that is for his squad. After profitable 5 out of six video games in January, Florida’s loss to No. 5 Kansas State deflated the fan base. The win over Tennessee re-energized the followers and erased any reminiscence of Keyontae Johnson hanging on the rim.
The Volunteers had a powerful argument for a No. 1 seed within the NCAA Event, however now Florida has put Alabama within the driver’s seat of the Southeastern Convention.
“They’re on the prime of the sport proper now being No. 2,” he mentioned. “Clearly, that half within the second half the place they made a giant run on us, I believe they took a six-point lead. Simply the grit that our guys confirmed and with the ability to bounce again from that was improbable. Simply a whole lot of nice all-around efforts to beat a crew like that by 13 factors.”
As Golden alluded to, the victory was not a blowout win by any means. Florida began out with a 17-4 run, however Tennessee got here again like a top-five crew within the nation ought to towards an unranked opponent. By no means deterred, Golden requested his squad to play with an “F-it” mentality and so they delivered. The Gators merely proved that its protection was ok to permit a run like that and nonetheless get well in time to win by double digits.
“Keep the course,” he mentioned. “We had a tricky little stretch there. Some issues didn’t go our manner. That was an important second for us as a result of, simply previously, we haven’t been capable of end at a stage like that, and we did a beautiful job after (Santiago) Vescovi made these three free throws to place them up six of simply getting that lead again and by no means relinquishing it down the stretch.”
Golden mentioned he didn’t really feel snug till there have been about 30 seconds left within the recreation. After failing to complete off the win so many occasions earlier than, it virtually didn’t really feel actual that the crew was lastly doing it towards the No. 2 crew within the nation.
“I believe it’s affirmation that we are able to beat anyone after we play to our capabilities,” he mentioned. “Clearly, we performed very effectively tonight. It will be a excessive commonplace to carry us to on a nightly foundation, however now we’ve proven the capability to do it. And I believe that perception comes from that understanding that it’s not a possible anymore. tonight, we’ve confirmed the capability to beat a prime crew within the nation.”
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