Todd Golden offers backhanded ‘$22 million roster’ compliment after Florida’s win over Kentucky
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Todd Golden and Florida secured a 93-83 win over Kentucky on Saturday, further staking their claim as the SEC’s premiere team for the second straight year.
Following a game in which the Gators led wire-to-wire, Golden was asked about the Wildcats’ roster and had some interesting things to say about its price tag.
“They’re talented, obviously — it’s a $22 million roster,” Golden said postgame. “They’re physical. They’re big. I expect them to do well the rest of the year, they’re a really good team.”
Golden didn’t outrightly cast any shade at Mark Pope & Co., but much has been made about how much the Kentucky program spent on its 2025-2026 squad. Transfers such as Jaland Lowe, Jayden Quaintance and Denzel Aberdeen drew high monetary figures, but the former 2 are each out due to injury.
The latter made his return to Gainesville on Saturday, with Aberdeen having played for the Gators from 2022-2024 before landing in Lexington. While no apparent bad blood was exhibited between Golden and Aberdeen, the head coach may have been expressing some frustrations with the fact UK was able to lure his guard away this past offseason.
The difference in money spent on rosters had little impact on the game however, as Florida shot 45% from the floor and out-rebounded the visitors by 8 on its way to a comfortable win.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
