Notable
* Riley Kugel led Florida with 13 points and shot 3-for-6 from 3-point range and averaged 17.3 points over the final 10 games of the season.
* Kugel’s 10-game double-figure streak to end the season tied Bradley Beal (2011-12) for the longest such streak by a Florida freshman this century.
* Kugel converted his first career four-point play and the first by the Gators this season.
* Will Richard grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds and added a pair of steals.
Head Coach Todd Golden
On the turnovers…
“I thought our ball security was really bad, especially in the first half, and I thought that was what really set us back in a big way. Got off to a good start, but stopped taking care of the ball, allowed them to get some runouts and easy baskets. We were up 9-2, and then they were up 22-12, so a 20-3 run right there. I think a lot of it was spurred by those turnovers. Ball security has been an area that we’ve been elite in all year. It’s given us a chance really every game that we’ve been in, for the most part, but tonight we had 13 in the first half and (were) just really uncharacteristic that way. That was the biggest thing early on, I thought that was an issue for us.”
On what UCF’s defense did that forced the turnovers…
“The ball screen coverage was bothering us, their hard shows, and it bothered us in the first half against Ole Miss, also. We did a better job in the second half of that game. But that got us playing on our heels, and I think a couple of those turnovers were given to (Kyle) Lofton that, a couple of them were him trying to hit the roller and us just not being able to come up with the basketball. Obviously, Kyle is a guy that we usually come in here and it’s reversed and he has five assists and one turnover. Tonight, (that) obviously wasn’t the case, and I think that was a big reason as to why we weren’t very good. But their pressure on the perimeter and the way they stretched things out on screens bothered us…Credit to them in that regard. We were preparing for it, prepared for it, just didn’t attack it very well.”
On the team’s energy…
“I thought our energy was OK – especially, we’re pressing, trying to speed up the game a little bit – but not to the standard that we expect, necessarily. These games in the postseason, you know, you have a goal of making the NCAA Tournament for so long and it’s something that you’re focusing on and talking about. Obviously, when that doesn’t happen, you have to find a way to rally. The way that we discussed it, the way we talked to our team about it was, any opportunity you get to play postseason, an opportunity like this, you can’t take it for granted. I just didn’t think we had our best tonight. This group has done a really good job since Colin’s injury of rallying and competing and finding a way. I thought we did a really good job of that the last two weeks. We didn’t do as good of a job tonight.”
Freshman G Riley Kugel
On the game…
“We just got out-competed. Not much to it, we were just out-competed.”
On the turnovers…
“I don’t really think it is 100% them causing it, it is half our fault. We just didn’t come out how we were supposed to so that led to lazy passing and lazy dribbling. We just weren’t there all the way today.”
On getting excited for this game…
“I just treated it like a regular game. I didn’t really think or dwell on the past or what happened in the past. For me personally I just felt like it was a regular game.”
On the offseason and how they plan on approaching it…
“Compete and get after it. Go all out.”
On playing against Taylor Hendricks…
“That’s my boy. We have played against each other a couple of times in AAU. I always know he is a great player. I speak highly of him.”
On Taylor Hendricks game…
“He is just amazing. Coming from two high school teams, playing against each other, and now he’s top-20, top-15. It’s just crazy, and he has a bright future ahead.”
Sophomore G Will Richard
On what contributes to coming out flat…
“Energy. Everybody has to be locked in and come out ready to play and I just felt like we didn’t have it tonight.”
On if there was a time they felt like this may not be their night…
“No, I wouldn’t say that. We had a good shootaround this morning. I feel like we started out the game, the first two minutes we started off hot and that just died down and it went downhill from there.”
On the offseason and how they plan on approaching it…
“Just attacking it hard, knowing that they are going to rely on us a lot next year. So just making sure we are leading and working hard every day. Getting each other better and making sure we set the tone.”
On CJ Kelly…
“On the close outs we weren’t hard enough on him. I feel like we let him get comfortable early on in the game. He had a good rhythm going on the rest of the game and we just didn’t disrupt him enough.”
