Records: Florida 24-10, 11-7 SEC; Texas A&M 20-14, 9-9 SEC
Next up for Florida: vs. Auburn; SEC Tournament at Nashville, Tenn.; Sunday, March 17, 1 p.m. Eastern, ESPN
Notable
* Denzel Aberdeen’s career day led the Gators to an 18-point comeback to claim a spot in Sunday’s SEC Tournament championship game. Aberdeen scored 20 points on 6-for-9 from the field, 4-for-5 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. The sophomore out of Orlando had totaled 28 points in 16 appearances during SEC regular season play this season.
* Florida rallied from 18 points down, 40-22, with 5:20 to play in the first half, outscoring the Aggies 73-50 from that point on.
* The rally marked the second-largest comeback win for UF under Todd Golden and the fifth-largest in program history. Golden also led UF to 19-point comeback victory at Florida State (11/18/22).
* Florida’s largest rally this season previously had been an 11-point comeback at Georgia (2/17).
* Florida advances to the SEC Tournament championship game for the 11th time in program history, seeking its fifth title and first since 2014. The Gators also won in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
* Florida had five players go for 15+ points, getting 19 from Will Richard, 16 from Walter Clayton Jr. and 15 each from Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel. Five Gators have scored in double figures in all three SEC Tournament wins and in 12 games overall this year, with the Gators going 10-2 in those contests.
* Clayton moves from 10th into #8 on UF’s all-time single-season scoring list with 587 points this season, surpassing Ronnie Williams (575, 1981-82) and Dan Cross (581, 1993-94) and just behind Kenny Boynton (588, 2011-12) and Stacey Poole (589, 1991-92).
* Florida will play four games in four days for the first time since Dec. 14-17, 1942.
Southeastern Conference
Men’s Basketball Tournament
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Florida Gators
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Bridgestone Arena
Coach Todd Golden
Denzel Aberdeen
Will Richard
Postgame Press Conference
Florida 95, Texas A&M 90
THE MODERATOR: We’re ready to begin with Florida.
We’ll ask Coach for some general thoughts on the game,
then take questions.
Coach.
TODD GOLDEN: Obviously I’m thrilled with the way our
team performed today. I think this was a great example of
the growth of our team and our program over the last
couple months. To go down 18 in the first half, find a by to
come back and win by 5, it was just incredibly resilient.
I was just really proud of the way that we maintained our
composure when things weren’t going our way, and our
belief didn’t waver. I think that was something that showed
the growth I was speaking about earlier in terms of where
we’ve come from earlier in the year.
Will hit free throws down the stretch, did a great job of
taking care of the ball against the pressure. Denzel, a
breakout game for him. Will can tell you he plays pretty
dang well in practice every day, does a great job of being
consistent, having a great work ethic and attitude. I’m
really proud of Denzel for stepping up in this moment when
his teammates needed him the most. We don’t win this
game without him.
Good job, Denzel.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions for the
student-athletes.
Q. Denzel, we heard all year about how you’ve
performed in practices. What was it like to have that
translate into a game finally?
DENZEL ABERDEEN: It felt great. My teammates always
believed in me throughout practices, games. Just saying,
Keep going, keep going. Without them, this wouldn’t be
possible, putting me in the right spots, always believing in
me, keep my head up.
Just go out there and have fun, just be ready for whenever
my position is called. Just go out there and play hard, do
that.
Q. Will, can you comment on Denzel’s performance.
WILL RICHARD: Yeah, I’m proud of Denzel. I mean, he’s
one of the hardest workers I know. You never hear him
complain about minutes or anything. He just stays the
course. He works hard. He kills it every day in practice.
I’m not surprised to see him come out here and do this.
We’re proud of him. Everybody believed in him. We knew
he could do it. I’m just proud to see it come to fruition.
Q. Denzel, with how A&M plays defense in doubling
the post, did you feel as a three-point shooting guard it
could be an opportunity to hit some from deep?
DENZEL ABERDEEN: Definitely. Tyrese, Condo and
them, when they was getting trapped, I just told them in the
huddle to look out for the skips, and me and Will on the
other side was being ready for shoot. That comes from
practice, we always rep those out. We was able to hit
them today.
Q. What clicked when you started to come back?
Anything in particular?
WILL RICHARD: Yeah, for us it was just like getting
adjusted how the game was being played. We know
they’re a physical team. I feel like we came in a little too
lackadaisical. For us, how the refs were calling the game
and stuff like that, just make sure we limited their free
throw attempts. For us, getting back to what we wanted to
do in offense, transition, clean rebounds, play how we play.
DENZEL ABERDEEN: Coming together in that second
half. No one put their head down. We were all together.
We just said we have to fight to come back the second
half, do everything we had to do to come back. That’s
what we did.
Q. Once you had the comeback, you had to show the
poise against their pressure. A week ago in the same
city you didn’t really have that. What was the
difference this time?
DENZEL ABERDEEN: We went into practice after that
same game talking about it. We just repped like staying
strong, holding the ball strong, trying not to get no
turnovers or nothing. Yeah, that’s what we did.
WILL RICHARD: Like Zel said, we came into practice and
focused on it. Just practiced it in game reps. It paid off
today.
Q. You were both part of the program last year. Can
you speak to the progress you feel you’ve made as a
team.
WILL RICHARD: Yeah, for me it’s a whole different energy
with just being a part of this team. I feel like everybody has
bought in. Everybody wants to be here. Everybody has
one goal, and that’s to win. We’re doing whatever it takes
to do that.
DENZEL ABERDEEN: Same like Will said. Everybody
this year has brought in, all put together, and we all gel
together very good outside of basketball. I think that’s a
big part. When we come in, we fight for each other, know
what we have to do for each other.
THE MODERATOR: You’re excused, and we’ll continue
with questions for Coach.
Q. To make the SEC title game in your second season,
for Auburn to be the opponent specifically, does it
mean anything to you for that to be the team?
TODD GOLDEN: Yeah, I mean, I would be lying if I said I
would not — would prefer it to be somebody else. But to
meet them in the championship, it’s going to be just an
awesome game and a great opportunity for us.
Neither side will be taking it easy on each other. Obviously
they’ve had a great year. They have a great team. We
played very well when we played them the first time. We
had them at home. Obviously it’s going to be a tougher
challenge now in a neutral court.
Both of our programs, obviously they’ve been established,
and now we’re becoming that way. We’re trying to get
there and stay there. Both teams playing really well at the
right time obviously. I think tomorrow will be a great game.
Q. In the same Auburn vein, you mentioned the first
game. What do you think you did well that gave them
fits?
TODD GOLDEN: We had them at home. We played
fantastic at home all year. We had a bye that week. They
were coming in, I think they beat Alabama by 18 right
before they played us. We had some things going our way
in regards to just the lead-up to the game.
We played with incredible energy and enthusiasm. I
thought our guys did a great job executing against Auburn.
We did a really good job defending them, limiting their
opportunities, their catch-and-shoot threes. We did a good
job on Johni.
Offensively we were playing with great pace and great
intent, just getting down the middle of the floor, attacking
the rim. We made a lot of shots that night. We played one
of our best games.
We should have some confidence in the sense that we’ve
performed well against these guys. I know they will have a
much better effort tomorrow. They’ll have some different
things for us that we’ll have to adjust to.
When you make it to the championship game, you’re going
to be playing a really good team. That’s just the way it’s
going to go. Just excited to get out there again tomorrow.
Q. You were down 18 points. What were some of the
adjustments you made offensively to start scoring?
TODD GOLDEN: We might not have been scoring great. I
think the issue in the first half was the way we were
guarding. We weren’t guarding physically at all. Quick
turnaround obviously. I didn’t think we executed very well
in terms of what we wanted to do defensively in the first
half.
Then credit to A&M, they shot the ball really well. Six
threes in the first half. They’ve been playing at an elite
level the last five games before this one. A big part of that
is their perimeter shooting.
When they make threes, they’re really, really hard to beat.
They have those really good attacking guards in Taylor,
Radford, with Obaseki stepping up. He’s been playing a lot
better lately. That gives them another element, makes
them harder to guard.
I this think our defense sparked us in the beginning of the
run, get out in transition, get easier baskets. In the second
half I thought we did a better job of getting the ball side to
side, making them guard the whole floor. Our bigs did a
good job of slipping out of the ball screens, caused
confusion, let us get downhill.
We did a great job of playing off two feet, not
over-penetrating and then looking out, and then obviously
we shot the ball really, really well today as well, which was
the difference in the game.
Q. With over 30 free throws attempts for both teams,
did you feel that was a little bit of the matchup, or is
that tournament time?
TODD GOLDEN: I think stylistically both teams get to the
line a lot. A big part of our quick turnaround scout was
simply we got to do whatever we can to keep ’em off the
line. Obviously we didn’t do it very well. We were able to
get there also.
They’re physical. They put a lot of pressure on the rim with
their high ball screen penetration. Like I say, with those
three guards, they get downhill, get in your body. It’s hard
to defend them without fouling.
I was hoping that we’d have a better advantage at the line.
It didn’t work out that way. Both teams were really, really
efficient from the line. They shot 81%. We shot 77%. The
difference, again, we made 14 threes, they made eight.
That was really it.
Q. What about Tyrese today? He was very athletic on
both ends of the floor, played 28 minutes. Felt like it
was one of his better games.
TODD GOLDEN: Yeah, I thought a little bit slow start. He
was close to dominant in the second half, just the way he
was able to play in the paint physically. He did a great job
passing. They trap a lot in the post. I think he’s one of the
better passing bigs in America and composed.
Double-teams don’t really bother him. He’s able to stay
calm and look out. He did a great job finding Zel for three,
Walt for three, skipped one to Will early on.
Those plays are backbreakers. When they’re trying to run
a specific style defensively, you’re able to get open shots
against it.
Again, him and ZP, being the senior leaders of this group, I
thought both stepped up in a big way to help us win
tonight.
Q. You’ve been pretty adamant this year Denzel was
going to keep playing no matter his production. How
rewarding was it to see him play?
TODD GOLDEN: Very. He’s a guy that we have a lot of
belief in. But his practice production just hadn’t translated
to games the way we expected it to. Big part of what we
believe is that practice matters a lot. Guys that perform
every day and do their jobs and perform well, which he
does, that eventually you gain good belief and good
confidence from that, start showing up in games.
We probably expected this to show up closer to January for
him. Again, he didn’t get discouraged, he didn’t change his
approach. He’s been coming on the last couple weeks.
He played really well against ‘Bama at home. I thought he
played great last night in short minutes.
Today I just felt like he earned the opportunity to be the
first guard off the bench, see what he was able to do. He
obviously took advantage of that opportunity today.
Q. With Taylor and Garcia in foul trouble, does it make
it easier to bend the game how y’all want to play it?
TODD GOLDEN: Yeah, I mean, those guys are both really
impactful players. I mean, Wade Taylor still played 34
minutes. He was out there quite a bit. Garcia, he was
limited. Although he doesn’t score a lot, I think he’s very
impactful with his defense, rebounding, his effort on the
floor. So having those guys, specifically Garcia, not out
there as much helped our cause.
I thought Washington was good, hit some shots during our
run, to keep them in there. But yeah…
Q. You mentioned progress this season. Where do
you feel you took the biggest step?
TODD GOLDEN: I felt like we would have a pretty good
team. Obviously we had some kind of fluky situations in
non-conference, with ZP missing the first three games,
because he played in Portsmouth. Micah sprained his
ankle in the first play, in the Pitt game. We don’t have him
against Pitt, Baylor or Wake Forest. We had guys in and
out of the lineup a little bit.
We were good, but we just weren’t super connected yet.
We knew we weren’t playing to our ceiling. Obviously
started 1-3. Not exactly a great start. When we won at
Missouri, then came back and won those two against
Mississippi State and Georgia, we started to get some
confidence.
I think we went to Kentucky and won right after that. When
we got that win at Rupp, I think that was kind of the
moment where everybody in the program, specifically the
players, were like, We feel like we can play with anybody
anywhere, beat anybody anywhere.
The reality since then is we’ve played really dang well.
We’ve lost a couple, but had leads in every game.
Obviously coming here, winning three so far speaks to that.
Continuing to be more connected. We have a lot of new
guys. Riley and Will are the only guys that really played for
us last year that are still here. Denzel obviously was in the
program. It’s not that easy to just assemble a group and
expect to play at a really high level right away.
I feel like we’ve done a good job of continually getting
better as the year’s gone on. This is the right time to be
playing our best basketball.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
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