Texas A&M 67, Florida 66
Reed Arena | Bryan-College Station, Texas
Box Score<https://floridagators.com/documents/2024/2/3/2024.02.03_Florida_at_Texas_A_M.PDF> | Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/11/17/2023-24_UFStats.pdf> | Media Resources<https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iv6cc1nl98a49pv/AAD_LkZm6hKvVz7FpyboOUR1a?dl=0>
Records: Florida 15-7, 5-4 SEC; Texas A&M 13-8, 4-4 SEC
Next up for Florida: #16 Auburn, Saturday, Feb. 10, 3:30 p.m., SEC Network
Notable
* Zyon Pullin led the Gators with 18 points and eight assists, while Riley Kugel and Will Richard each added 12 points.
* Alex Condon grabbed 11 rebounds, his fourth double-digit rebounding game of the season.
* Florida suffered its first loss of the season when posting a better field goal percentage than its opponent. The Gators were coming off their first win of the season (at Kentucky) when shooting a lower field goal percentage than their opponent.
* Florida enters a mid-week bye at the halfway point of its SEC schedule with a winning record and five home games remaining, starting with 16th-ranked Auburn next Saturday.
Head Coach Todd Golden
On what happened over the last three minutes, if the team got rattled…
“I didn’t see it that way at all. I thought we were getting more rattled around the eight- or nine-minute mark. They took a little lead. I thought we played really poised down the stretch to get the lead back. That thing could’ve easily stretched to six or eight. They made some plays, got the crowd into it. We came back and got the lead, so I thought our guys did a great job down the stretch handling the situation, finally putting some balls in the basket. We got three stops in a row from about that point you’re talking about to allow us to get a lead. We missed two possessions in a row where we could’ve extended it. I thought we got some looks…Obviously, they’re a tough team. They play a unique style. They’re very physical, and we didn’t do a good enough job attacking their switching man-to-man that they play. I thought we were a little stagnant offensively in the second half.”
On whether Texas A&M changed something defensively to take away the 3-pointer in the second half…
“We got looks. We got 13 up. The whole game changed from the first half to the second half. There was a total of 13 free throws taken by both teams in the first half. It was much more open, kind of a free-flowing game. Then the second half, they get 20 free throws to our two. That, to me, is how the game changes. We did a great job I thought going vertical both halves. Second half, those started becoming free throws and it allows them to set up their press, kind of change the pace of the game. Really, the biggest thing for me was that there were a total of 13 free throws taken by both teams in the first half, and then A&M took 20 in the second half to our two.”
On whether they got the shots they wanted on the final possession…
“I’ll take a Walter Clayton pull-up and a ZP [Zyon Pullin] three and live with the results. Walt’s a big shot-maker, obviously hit a huge one for us the other night. A little short [this time], thought we did a great fighting on the glass and obviously ZP’s a big-time player, did a great job getting, I think it was Carter, up in the air and got a good look. It’s hard to dictate the exact shot you get in those situations, but I thought our guys made good basketball plays to get the two that we got.”
Grad G Zyon Pullin
On the team’s performance in a tough environment…
“Playing one of the better teams in the SEC, it’s a game we feel like we should have won. They just made more plays than we did. We didn’t come out in the second half and execute well enough on both ends.”
