Courtesy Florida Sports Information
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening statement
“I am incredibly proud of our team. Really, incredibly proud of our program. I thought our coaches have done a great job preparing our players, instilling a level of mental toughness and physical toughness all year. I feel like over the last couple weeks, it’s really come together for our team and the way we play. This last three-game stretch after the Tennessee loss, beating Vandy, beating Auburn, coming in against a very, very good Mississippi State team and controlling the game, getting a lead as big as 24 in the second half after losing Condo [Alex Condon] 30 seconds into the game, not having A-Mart [Alijah Martin] tonight. Our team has continued to show a great ‘next man up’ mentality. I’m just very proud. We’ve got to keep it going. It’s not going to be easy, but this team has shown great resolve over the last week and a half.”
On the second half run
“I thought we played pretty well offensively in the first half. I thought we played pretty well defensively. We did not make shots in the first half. We were 6-for-20 from three, but we got good looks. We were playing the right way. We played how we wanted to. Defensively, we held them to 33. Our issue was rebounding. We were minus-10 in the first half on the glass, and the conversation at halftime was, ‘Offensively, we’ve been good enough. We’ll make some shots. Defensively, we’ve been good enough. But we are not going to win this game if we allow them to outrebound us again in the second half.’ That was going to be the determining factor, and the fact that we finished only minus-11, so only a one-rebound disadvantage in the second half, I thought was huge. In the first five minutes of the second half, we did a great job of getting misses and not allowing them to get second chances. We were able to get out in transition, which we weren’t able to do in the first half.”
On Thomas Haugh’s performance
“He’s a very good player, I don’t know what to tell you. He’s obviously been coming on all year. We’ve talked about this a lot, obviously he’s a starter-level player. We just have a very good team this year, and we have multiple guys that can do it. But Tommy is one of the guys that delivers the heartbeat for this team and the passion with which he plays, the consistency, being as coachable as he is – to go out on the floor and do what the coaches want him to do – is everything. For him to go 16 [points], nine [rebounds] and eight [assists] with two blocks and two steals, that’s an elite effort for him tonight.”
Junior G Denzel Aberdeen
On the shooting picking up in the second half
“They were the same looks as the first half. All good looks. No matter if you missed, guys were saying, ‘Keep shooting!’ That’s what we did. The ones we missed in the first half, we hit them in the second half.”
Sophomore F Thomas Haugh
On the 17-0 run to start the second half
“I think we played really good defense. We got two kills in that run, six straight stops. That sparked it. And then just being able to hit shots. Hit a bunch of 3s to put the nail in the coffin.”
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening statement
“I am incredibly proud of our team. Really, incredibly proud of our program. I thought our coaches have done a great job preparing our players, instilling a level of mental toughness and physical toughness all year. I feel like over the last couple weeks, it’s really come together for our team and the way we play. This last three-game stretch after the Tennessee loss, beating Vandy, beating Auburn, coming in against a very, very good Mississippi State team and controlling the game, getting a lead as big as 24 in the second half after losing Condo [Alex Condon] 30 seconds into the game, not having A-Mart [Alijah Martin] tonight. Our team has continued to show a great ‘next man up’ mentality. I’m just very proud. We’ve got to keep it going. It’s not going to be easy, but this team has shown great resolve over the last week and a half.”
On the second half run
“I thought we played pretty well offensively in the first half. I thought we played pretty well defensively. We did not make shots in the first half. We were 6-for-20 from three, but we got good looks. We were playing the right way. We played how we wanted to. Defensively, we held them to 33. Our issue was rebounding. We were minus-10 in the first half on the glass, and the conversation at halftime was, ‘Offensively, we’ve been good enough. We’ll make some shots. Defensively, we’ve been good enough. But we are not going to win this game if we allow them to outrebound us again in the second half.’ That was going to be the determining factor, and the fact that we finished only minus-11, so only a one-rebound disadvantage in the second half, I thought was huge. In the first five minutes of the second half, we did a great job of getting misses and not allowing them to get second chances. We were able to get out in transition, which we weren’t able to do in the first half.”
On Thomas Haugh’s performance
“He’s a very good player, I don’t know what to tell you. He’s obviously been coming on all year. We’ve talked about this a lot, obviously he’s a starter-level player. We just have a very good team this year, and we have multiple guys that can do it. But Tommy is one of the guys that delivers the heartbeat for this team and the passion with which he plays, the consistency, being as coachable as he is – to go out on the floor and do what the coaches want him to do – is everything. For him to go 16 [points], nine [rebounds] and eight [assists] with two blocks and two steals, that’s an elite effort for him tonight.”
Junior G Denzel Aberdeen
On the shooting picking up in the second half
“They were the same looks as the first half. All good looks. No matter if you missed, guys were saying, ‘Keep shooting!’ That’s what we did. The ones we missed in the first half, we hit them in the second half.”
Sophomore F Thomas Haugh
On the 17-0 run to start the second half
“I think we played really good defense. We got two kills in that run, six straight stops. That sparked it. And then just being able to hit shots. Hit a bunch of 3s to put the nail in the coffin.”