Next up for Florida: at Missouri, Saturday, Jan. 20, 8 p.m., ESPNU
Notable
* Florida falls to 5-65 all-time in road games against AP Top-10 opponents.
* Walter Clayton Jr. led four Gators in double figures with 16 points, including 12 in the second half.
* Tyrese Samuel recorded his eighth double-double of the season, totaling 10 points and 11 rebounds.
* Zyon Pullin added 11 and has scored double figures in all 14 appearances this season.
* The Gators shot 17-for-21 (.810) from the free throw line.
Head Coach Todd Golden
On Tennessee’s defense…
“Honestly, I thought we got some opportunities at the rim, we just didn’t finish with very much physicality and we allowed their bigs to go vertical on us and meet us chest-to-chest. I thought we were attempting to draw fouls a little too much instead of just finding a way to power through and put the ball in the basket. Again, they’re obviously a very good team, very good defensive team, and they play with an edge at home. They play with more physicality. They’re definitely a tougher team here, and I thought that showed tonight.”
On Dalton Knecht’s performance…
“He’s been doing it to everybody. Obviously, we came into the game with an idea of how we’d try to turn his water off. In the first half, I thought a lot of it was in transition and broken plays, and he just didn’t let us off the hook. Then in the second half, a little more of the same in terms of getting downhill off the ball screen and us not doing a good enough job of protecting the rim when he drove. Then he obviously made some deep threes and some tough shots.”
On the defensive performance overall…
“It was a two-man band for them tonight between [Knecht] and [Jonas] Aidoo going for 58 of their 85 points. Honestly, I thought we did a decent enough job on [Zakai] Zeigler, thought we did a good job on [Santiago] Vescovi, and took away [Josiah-Jordan] James, some guys that are usually really electric and powerful guys. But again, between Knecht and Aidoo, they were a two-man band and they just killed us tonight.”
On Tennessee’s early run to get separation and the difficulty of coming back…
“This isn’t a team you want to fall behind against. They’re obviously very good defensively and very well-coached. They play with great intent, very disciplined. They’re not going to make mistakes and allow you to get back in the game, so getting down by 10 puts you behind the 8-ball a little bit. I thought we fought in the second half, cut it to 10, had a possession or two to make it single digits, some broken plays and they made some threes to take it back out to 16. But obviously just didn’t play well enough tonight.”
Junior G Walter Clayton Jr.
On the difference in the game…
“Toughness. They just played harder. It’s that simple.”
On Tennessee taking Florida out of what it wants to do…
“For sure. They deny everyone. They were being physical on defense, we just weren’t being physical on offense.”
Grad G Zyon Pullin
On the takeaway from the game…
“I think they got going early, that was the biggest thing. They made some shots early and we struggled a little bit to finish around the rim and to make plays. I think that just set the tone.”
On Tennessee’s physicality taking the team out of what they want to do on offense…
“That’s definitely something they do very well. They’re very physical. Definitely, took some time to get adjusted to it. They denied a lot of our guys. We have to find ways not to let that bother us next game.”
