Next up for Florida: Mississippi State, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 8:30 p.m., SEC Network
Notable
* Micah Handlogten posted his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Tyrese Samuel’s 17 points paced five Gators in double figures alongside Walter Clayton Jr. (15), Will Richard (13) and Zyon Pullin (11).
* Florida used an 8-0 run early in the second half to take a lead, then a 9-1 run later in the half that pushed the Gators’ lead to 13, 65-52, with 6:23 to play.
* Florida out-rebounded Missouri, 40-27, including a +10 margin in the second half. UF’s 13 offensive rebounds helped the Gators to a 13-2 edge in second-chance points.
* The Gators matched a season-low with eight turnovers (vs. Pitt).
* UF limited Missouri to 3-for-16 from 3-point range (.188). The Tigers came into the game averaging 8.5 3-pointers made per game.
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening statement…
“A really great effort from our team this evening. We knew coming into tonight that we were going to face a really hungry, really driven Missouri team. They’re much better than their conference record indicates…This team could’ve easily had three conference wins at this point. This was a really challenging game for us, and obviously we came in 1-3, so we haven’t had a lot of conference success yet. But I think we have a really good team and to come in here on the road and control the game like we did, especially in the second half and end up winning by double figures, was a really big growth moment for our group.”
On the balanced scoring…
“I think we’re harder to compete against when we do that. The way they were trapping that middle ball screen, I thought our bigs did an excellent job handling that pressure getting put in that four-on-three, three-on-two situation and playing in the middle of the floor. Tyrese [Samuel] and Condo [Alex Condon] did a great job and this guy next to me [Micah Handlogten] just kind of owned the rim, especially in the second half with those tip-ins and rim finishes, which was huge for us. Honestly, I think the biggest thing for us tonight, we did a good job taking care of the ball – only eight turnovers against a team that prides themselves on turning you over and does things specifically on the defensive end to do that. Our whole game plan tonight – we felt like we’d have a really good shot if we took care of it – our goal was 12 turnovers or less. So to come out with eight was a key factor in getting this win tonight.”
On how they attacked Missouri’s defense…
“We were playing out of that middle ball screen for most of the game, and they were putting two on the ball. They were trapping our guards, whether it was ZP [Zyon Pullin] or Walt [Clayton] having the lion’s share of the ball-handling duties in the middle of the floor. If you’re not ready for it and if you don’t have poise, that’s an easy thing to turn over because Missouri really likes to run through those passing lanes. It sounds simple, but we did a good job handling that two-man trap and got it over the top to the big. They did a good job coming back to the ball. At that point, with our bigs in the middle of playing advantage-disadvantage, with our big and the dunker being guarded and the perimeter shooter getting guarded and our big making a decision. One of our biggest advantages with this group over last year is all four of our frontcourt players are really good decision-makers and really good passers and have a good feel. As a coach, it gives you a lot of comfort when you can throw it to one of these guys and they’re going to make the right play more often than not. It was really that simple.”
Sophomore C Micah Handlogten
On being more active and physical…
“Yeah, we preached about it all this week during practice that we’ve got to come out and be the more physical team. We know that on the road it’s more difficult because you’ve got the crowd going against you. We knew that we could come out here and play with more physicality, so we used that to our advantage tonight.”
On playing better defense on the road…
“A lot of it comes down to physicality. To be honest with you, at Tennessee we got punked, so it’s definitely something we highlighted in practice. Everything we did was all about physicality, physicality, physicality. We worked our butts off during practice, so I’m glad it got to show today. I think we can really build off it for future games.”
