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No. 10 Florida improved to 2-1 on the season with a 78-76 home court win over Florida State.
BOX SCORE
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Notes & quotes courtesy Florida Sports Information
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening Statement…
“Really, really happy, pleased. Great win for us in a rivalry game. I think the expectation was, outside of our building, outside of the arena that this is a game for us to control, but the we knew coming into this game, how difficult it is going to be. Luke [Loucks] has done a phenomenal job in a short period of time, getting that program playing a very unique style that’s really hard to prepare for and playing with a lot of confidence, dating back to their exhibition against Alabama, when they took that to overtime in Birmingham and then just rolled through the rest of their competition and played Florida A&M in an exhibition, and then Alcorn and Alabama State and we knew that we had a team coming in here that was confident, that was playing loose and free. They have five senior starters and were coming in here not afraid to fail, without any pressure on their shoulders. To their credit, I thought they did a great job for the majority of the night, and with that being said, I’m really proud of our guys as well, still fighting to find a way to get some of these shots to fall. But big-picture wise, a lot of good things for how we want to play. Thought we did a great job defensively tonight, held them to 33% from the field, a team that was really, really efficient in shooting the ball the first couple of games. I thought we did a really good job covering the three-point line, held them to 27%. They banked one in, think they made some other tough ones, but we did a good job running them off the line. And we just the rebounding was fantastic. We have to be a team that punishes our opponents on the glass the way we play. And plus-22 on the glass gave us the buffer to survive a bad perimeter shooting night, to find a way to win. So big win for us, I think hopefully this will give some of our guys a little confidence that are playing some new roles in our program. We’ll take tomorrow off and try to get ready for Miami the rest of the week.”
On Rueben Chinyelu’s performance with a career high 16 rebounds…
“It was huge. I mean head played really, really well and he bounced back. Hadn’t played his best in the first couple of games, but Rueben understands and our team understands how important he is to our success. And he really well in the exhibition season, in the scrimmages. And we know that he’s capable of doing what he did tonight, and I thought he did a great job controlling the boards and I also thought he did a really good job switching on their guards and doing a pretty good job of not getting driven for layups. So really a big game for Reuben and really proud of his effort.”
On Boogie Fland’s late 3-pointers…
“Obviously huge. We don’t win the game without them. We needed a couple of guys to find a way to put a shot in and Boogie started it by getting the first one to drop. Hit a big-time corner three that allowed us to extend, and then we didn’t do a good job the last four minutes to play with the lead. We had some really silly, uncharacteristic turnovers and Urb [Urban Klavžar] hadn’t been shooting the ball well, either, all year. But in that moment, went a little more ball-handling, shot-making capability [in our lineup], and he stepped up into a huge three to take it to four late, but we need each and every one of those to get this win tonight.”
Junior F Thomas Haugh
On what he thought of the last four minutes of the game…
“I think it was a great performance in the end, they went on a little run and it was just credit to our team, we stayed composed, we broke their press break. Boogie was doing a great job out there today. He was playing confident with the ball and we were able to get it done in the end.”
On taking the game over during the 11-0 run…
“I think these guys were able to find me more. They were able to get me on cuts, Condo [Alex Condon] got me on a couple cuts, got fouled, Boogie was able to give me the ball in the middle court and then we spaced out a little bit and I think it was just a good game from there.”
On being 3-0 against FSU now in his career and the emphasis on the rivalry…
“Oh yeah, we know the rivalry in this game. We knew coming in that we were going to give them our best game, they were going to give us their best game, that’s how it is.”
Sophomore G Boogie Fland
On their confidence in long range shots despite the early struggles…
“Very confident. It’s the beginning of the season, we know we’re not hitting right now, but once we start hitting, we’re going to play better.”
On how it felt to make a couple 3-pointers and make some plays in the second half…
“It felt good, just opens the floor, gets my teammates more involved and it settles the game down.”
On the importance in hitting his two 3-pointers…
“Very big, the one that bounced, it means you’re living right as they like to say, so I’m just happy and just shoot it with confidence and just play my game.”
On the defense’s ability to limit FSU from the 3-point line
“I thought we did good, just executing the defensive plan. Coach gave us a good plan to go out here and get the W and we did it on our defensive ground.”
Junior C Reuben Chinyelu
On his effort on the boards and aggressiveness in rebounding…
“Just playing my game and just being me. Trusting my teammates and knowing that we are here to play, enjoying the process and just doing what I do to help my team. Just contributing whichever way, offensively, defensively, making the stop, making the play.”
On the team’s ability to dominate on the glass in back-to-back games…
“Just knowing that we can do it and just being able to go out there and do it all night and just enjoy doing it, because you know that’s what we do. We just go out there and make sure that we execute, get the board. Every night’s going to be different, but just being able to embrace that path and know that that’s what we’re supposed to do. It’s supposed to look like that every night and buying into that, embracing that, and doing what we have to do defensively to make sure we protect our home.”
NOTEABLE
- Florida posted a 58-36 rebounding advantage and held off rival Florida State, as double-doubles from Thomas Haugh (20 points, 13 rebounds) and Rueben Chinyelu (10 points, 16 rebounds) along with 18 points from Boogie Fland led the Gators to victory.
- Chinyelu’s 16 boards marked a career high, while Haugh posted his second career 20-point double-double (20/11, 3/29/25 vs. Texas Tech).
- Florida used an 11-0 run to open up a 66-57 lead with 8:37 to play. FSU battled back within one point in the final minute, but the 2-for-2 trips to the line by Fland and Alex Condon gave Florida enough to secure the win.
- Fland scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers.
- Florida has had multiple players with a double-double in back-to-back games for the first time this century (Condon 15/10 and Micah Handlogten 17/13 vs. North Florida).
- Florida improves to 31-2 at home since the start of the 2023-24 season, including its current streak of nine straight wins at the O’Dome.
- The Gators improve to 48-29 all-time vs. Florida State, 24-9 at home and 4-0 overall under Golden.
- Golden’s four straight wins vs. Florida State to open his tenure matches the most all-time by a Florida coach, along with John Mauer (1951-57) and Tommy Bartlett (1966-68).
- Florida’s five straight wins vs. FSU match UF’s third-longest win streak vs. the Seminoles (7, 1965-68; 6, 1998-2004; 5, 2009-13).
- Florida had its first sellout of the season with 10,785 in attendance.
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