Tennessee basketball heads to Florida to face the Gators on Tuesday night in its most challenging matchup of the season to date.
The Vols are the last undefeated team in the country and is ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll for the fifth straight week. Florida dropped its first game of the season at Kentucky on Saturday and enters the matchup ranked eighth nationally.
Ahead of the matchup, Florida head coach Todd Golden discussed Tennessee’s three-point defense, Vols’ sharp shooting guard Chaz Lanier and much more. Here’s everything Golden said.
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On what stood out defensively when he watched the film from the Florida game
“Yeah, we didn’t obviously do a good enough job. I thought we generally have the ability to, at least in a game like that, limit something – and transparently we just weren’t able to. I think credit to them, obviously. They played a fantastic offensive game,. There was a lot of great shotmaking on both sides. That was my biggest takeaway after watching the game was I thought it was an insanely high- level basketball game. Obviously, we scored 100 so we were doing some good things as well. And to their credit, they did not let us off the hook when we made mistakes. I think that’s kind of the biggest takeaway. When you’re playing a good offensive team like that, there’s going to be some breakdowns. They ‘re, I think, fifth offensively on KenPom right now, so they’re going to get something. To their credit, we just had a few too many breakdowns where we didn’t make them execute off of an action. Maybe, we kind of maybe got straight line driven or screwed up some of our switching that we were doing. When we did those things, they took advantage of it what seemed to be every single time. So, disappointed in the result, not discouraged in terms of our effort. We need to be better defensively, I understand that. But I think that could happen to a lot of teams on Saturday. The fact that we were still in the ball game, even allowing them to go on three different 10-0, 10-0, 16-0 runs says a lot about our group. I thought we were pretty resilient. I thought we competed really, really hard and stayed the course throughout all 40 minutes. Disappointing result, but again encouraged that you go into a place like Rupp with a really good team and playing the way we did.”
On if he can think of a tougher start to SEC play than playing at Rupp Arena and then hosting the No. 1 team in the country
“Not through the first two games at least. I think this is probably as difficult as it gets. But listen, it’s part of the challenge and just the opportunity of playing in this league. It really is an absolute war every single game. Tomorrow night’s going to be no different. And then when we go to Arkansas on Saturday, and it’s going to be no different. I think we saw only one road team win on Saturday, right? I think Vanderbilt won at LSU. Everybody else took care of the home floor. You saw some pretty crooked results. You look at Alabama and the way they played against Oklahoma, who was undefeated going into that game. It’s going to be really hard to win on the road. So getting Tennessee at home, awesome opportunity. I think our whole program is really excited for it. And we got about 24 more hours to prepare.”
On how important it is to beat Tennessee and avoid an 0-2 start to SEC play
“They’re not necessarily related to me, but yeah going 0-2 would definitely be disappointing for conference play. We’re in a good spot. Whether we win or lose tomorrow night’s not going to make or break our season. I think to your point, though, if we can get this thing done, it gives us really good momentum throughout the rest of the conference slate, and gives us a really good chance to be competitive in the top fourth of the league. If we don’t win tomorrow night, that might get difficult. I just look at it more like an incredible opportunity. And the great thing about our non- conference is we’re not in a position like last year where we felt so much pressure going into every one of these conference games. Because last year we were kind of bubbly, outside, looking in, probably going into conference play, whereas this year that’s not the case. So we feel like we’re gonna have plenty of opportunities the rest of the way. But yes, obviously all we got, and we’re looking forward to this opportunity against Tennessee.”
On what makes Tennessee even better this season
“Coach Barnes is pretty consistent, with the way his program runs, and what they’re good at – they’re fantastic defensively. I think they’re No. 1 KenPom right now defensively, they’re so physical. They make it very hard on you. They’re physical on the ball, but they also get in the gaps and so you kind of finally get around your man, then somebody’s raking at your ball – and they’re disciplined. They do a good job covering each other up. Got good rim protection on the backside with (Felix) Okpara and (Cade) Phillips.
“So they’re just very good team. But I think coming into our place, we just have to dictate, whether it’s defensively, whether it’s a tempo. We just got to take advantage of the opportunity of having them in here. And yes, they’re a very good team. I don’t think there’s a ton of difference in terms of the quality from Tennessee to Kentucky, necessarily, or from us to Kentucky to Tennessee, I think we’re all pretty close, a couple points over 100 possessions. So, yeah, I’m just looking forward to having No. 1 in here tomorrow night.”
On Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier
“They’re perimeter is really hard to guard, with Zeigler – he’s one of the best point guards in America, obviously – and Lanier has done a great job of coming in and assuming that role as a high-usage, efficient scorer for them. And Gainey is playing well off the bench. He doesn’t start, but he’s playing like a starter. Whey they play Mashack at the 4, they’ll put [Gainey] in there and now they have a lot of shooting and you have to be mindful of that. But yeah, they’ve got really good, talented players, so we have to do a good job of defending them.”
On if when facing the No. 1 defense against three-point shooting, it deters them from shooting threes
“No. It’s interesting, though. They are a statistical anomaly and we were just talking about it a little bit ago. They give up a ton of 3s. In my opinion, there are very few teams that can afford to give up a ton of 3s and still be able to guard the line well. I was talking to Coach Andrijek and Coach Hovde about it. Houston kind of does it. They give up a lot of 3s, but you work to get them. Tennessee has been pretty good at it, as well. But it’s a tough way to live, for me, at least. I’ve never been a big fan of giving up a bunch of threes. … So, no. Listen. We’re pretty good offensively. I’m not going to tell my guys, ‘Hey, we’re going to go out there and play. We just scored a hundred at Rupp.’ This team is pretty good offensively. So, yeah, Tennessee is a fantastic defensive team, but they have to guard us too, right? It’s going to be a challenge for them to come in here and stop us also. I just think it’s going to be a little like Saturday. It’s going to be an awesome game tomorrow night.”
On Florida sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu’s performance in the first half against Kentucky
“I thought he was awesome. Our front court had a tough game Saturday. I mean, everybody. We struggled in some coverages we’re usually pretty good at. But I thought he did an incredible job setting the tone on the glass. I think he had three offensive rebound put-backs in the first 10 minutes of the game. He just made his presence felt. It was awesome. Great rim protection. I think he blocked Oweh when he tried to dunk on him and I think he blocked someone else, Amari Williams I think tried to crush it on him and he was, like, ‘No.’ We saw him in Orlando have some really nice moments. Offensively, sometimes, the awkwardness, but he’s a really, really good player in this league. You saw him go against Amari Williams, who is a much older player, and match his physicality. So, yes, I think we obviously need him, especially in league play where physicality is more prevalent and important. I was just really proud of him and just of taking on the moment. Listen, man, there was like [24,000] people in there. ESPN game. It was kind of his first moment in that setting for us and he answered the bell. I thought he did a really good job for us.”
On how Kentucky adjusted defensively to Florida
“That’s an area where I need to do a better job of. I hate — I generally don’t call a lot of timeouts, but I probably should have used one a little earlier on Saturday. That 16-0 run though, we obviously watched it yesterday and I’m like, we got some good looks during that time. Not amazing, but Will had a good looking three. Mart had a wide open three. Zell had an open 3. You know, it could have gone different ways. So in the moment, I’m like, I thought we were still playing pretty well. We just weren’t making some shots. And then we had some defensive breakdowns.
“Yeah, I just thought, we weren’t able to sustain our ball pressure the last 10 minutes of the first half. I thought that affected us, but I think we were tied 42-42 with two minutes or so to go in the first half, and then our ball handling and turnovers hurt us. We had like, three swing plays that affected the last two minutes of the first half. That obviously put us beyond us beyond the eight ball. And, you know, they run good stuff. They’re hard to guard. They’re unique for this league, having kind of more of a five out, playing off their big in the middle of the floor, and that kind of challenges the way we guard a little bit, and not a lot of teams play that way. So you know, if we see them in the conference tournament, we’ll think of different ways to adjust.
“But again, it never felt, for me, like an offensive issue for us. I think we only got stopped one time in the last 10 minutes of the game, or something crazy like that. But, to their credit, they took advantage of our breakdowns and even when we guarded them well, they made big time shots. The Koby Brea side step three in front of their bench was just an insane shot. Like, it’s one of those where you tip your cap and you say, listen, he made a big play. And then Carr’s three, not a great coverage, but he still has to knock it down. He’s not an amazing 3-point shooter. He’s good with time. Butler, big three in the corner. Like, sometimes people can miss, even when they’re open, and that didn’t happen a whole lot on Saturday. So yeah, again, high-level game. Thought they played great. I think we did a pretty dang good job. And on our home floor, I expect us to play a little better.”
On Florida’s live-ball turnovers against Kentucky
“Listen, we only had nine for the game. I think he had a couple uncharacteristic ones that were a little, I don’t want to say fluky, but just don’t happen very often. And again, I think we were the most efficient offense against the Tennessee defense over the last 10 years, or something like that. It was 1.37. So, you’re gonna make some mistakes. We were still able to be efficient. We were still able to be aggressive. I thought he did a great job attacking the rim late him and Alijah. And Will did a good job getting in the paint. I was very pleased with our offensive performance. We’re gonna have some turnovers some games, but I don’t anticipate changing a whole lot that way. But to your question, it can help with Denzel and Alijah taking a little more time on the ball in specific situations to maybe give them a little rest.”
On Clayton’s 33-point performance against Kentucky
“I thought there were a lot of things that happened in that game where if we looked up and said, ‘Man, we’re down 30.’ The runs, the runs, the runs, the missed free throws, and we lost by 6. Like we were right there. There’s a lot of different things you can point at. Obviously, I think we missed 13 free throws. We got the line 35 times, went 22 for 35. We make half of those, it’s a different game. So listen, he’s an incredible player. We talked about the shot making of Brea. How about the shot making of Walt and Alijah? I mean, there was some ridiculously high level plays out there. And honestly I think it says more about our league and more about just how much better college basketball is getting. It felt like an NBA game, just watching guys make plays. And put them in situations, they’re making reads and making shots. Kentucky doesn’t run a lot of targeted actions where they’re looking for one shot. They’re read and react, playing five-out, making shot, shot, shot, whereas it was back and forth and a head-to-head match that way. Walt is playing at a really high level right now. I hope he’ll continue it up the next 17 games.”
On offensive rebounding and second-chance points kept Florida in the game at Kentucky
“Obviously that was a big part of it, I think in the second half we kind of did a great job getting back in it, getting on the glass, Will (Richard) did a wonderful job creating second chances and obviously Rueben, you know, all of our guys, I think we got back 40 percent of our misses, but as we talked about a lot, it is a big part of our offense, being able to crash and provide second chances so it was hugely important and if we wouldn’t have been able to rebound like that it would have been a different result.”
On Tennessee playing through Igor Milicic Jr. at power forward, his thoughts on Milicic
“He’s unique, they start him at the four, they’ll play him a little bit at the small ball five, play him a lot in the middle of the floor, and they’ll have him set a lot of ball screens, hasn’t shot it great this year but he’s more than capable, he’s shot it well over his career at Charlotte, and just to your point a unique cover, someone that we have to be aware of, I think we’ve got to be mindful of his ability to shoot, but we can’t sell out to take that away and allow them to get in lanes because we’re so hugged up and attached on him, but he is very, very important to their deal along with Zeigler and Lanier, and I think Gainey is a tricky one, too, because he comes off the bench but he’s a double-figure scorer, he’s a guy that we can’t let come in here tomorrow, and get a bunch of threes up, I think Brea’s performance on Saturday is a great example of what I’d say a lot in here, is the best three-point defense is when you don’t allow these guys the opportunity to get these shots up, because he had a couple of open ones that we had breakdowns on but I think three or four of his makes were crazily contested, and he still was able to knock them down, so gotta find a way to not let him get it up, so we gotta do that with Lanier tomorrow and got to do that with Gainey when he gets into the game, and we’ve got to make sure we’re keeping good ball pressure on Milicic and not let him kind of be a good decision maker out on the perimeter.”
On how important it is for Florida to match Tennessee’s physicality
“It’s everything. I think we, knock on wood, we’re getting to the point in our program where we are, even with, we’re respecting Tennessee obviously, we have great respect for them as a program, but we’re not changing what we do. We’re gonna be us, to Walt and Will’s point we gotta be physical, we’ve got to attack and we’ve got to get second chances, they run a lot of floppy action, they run off a lot of pin downs, like, we can’t allow ourselves to get screened, we’ve got to find a way to get through and take away those curls and take away those 3s, and again, just excited to get back home and playing in front of our crowd here. It should be an incredible environment and I think our guys, we should be ready for the moment.”
On Florida’s Stephen C. O’Connell Center being sold out for Tuesday night’s game against Tennessee
“Our crowd has been great all year. I thought it said a lot about where our program is at when we were hosting Stetson who obviously had struggled at the beginning of the year, and we sold that game out on a weekend of break, that’s awesome and we appreciate the support. I know our guys are grateful for it and love it and you know, we expect them to bring the noise tomorrow night for sure. It should be an incredible environment.”
