Todd Golden says Florida was ‘rusty’ in narrow win over Kentucky
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Todd Golden carries the highest expectations imaginable for his Florida team, which won 11 in a row to end the regular season and has now embarked on a journey it hopes will end with a repeat national championship.
But long before the Gators can win it all again in early April, Golden would like to see his group get going in Nashville and as it seeks to add an SEC Tournament title to go with the regular-season championship it just secured. That pursuit began on Friday afternoon in the Music City with a 71-63 quarterfinal victory over rival Kentucky, giving top-seeded Florida 3 victories this season over the 9th-seeded Wildcats.
That’s an accomplishment in itself, including the fact that Kentucky never led Florida in any of the 3 meetings this season, capped by the neutral-court showdown in Nashville. Florida, which advanced to a Saturday afternoon semifinal against either 4th-seeded Vanderbilt or 5th-seeded Tennessee, also beat the Wildcats, 84-77, last Saturday in Lexington, which was the Gators’ regular-season finale before a double bye gave UF a breather before it got going at the SEC Tournament.
But there’s a flip side to getting that double bye, and Golden believes his well-oiled machine might have felt that layoff during Friday’s game. During the postgame press conference, he was asked about the Gators going just 3 for 20 from 3-point territory and if that was a product of them being rusty or if it was due to Kentucky’s defense.
“No, I think we’re a little rusty,” admitted Golden, whose team shot just 38% from the field, too. “First time we shot in here was (Friday). It takes a little bit to get comfortable back in the venue.
“I thought we missed some really good looks. We’ll go back, watch film. Out of our 17 misses (from 3-point territory), I would imagine 10 of those were open and uncontested. I’m not too worried about it. We’ve been shooting the ball really well. We just haven’t played in a week. I think it will take us a little bit of time to get back in that rhythm and flow we had ending the regular season.”
There will be no more long layoffs for the Gators now, with that semifinal showdown looming on Saturday.
Here is how the Kalshi market currently sees the odds to win the SEC Tournament, with Florida at the top of the list right now:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
