Florida basketball opened up the 2026-27 campaign with a 77-67 victory over the Miami Hurricanes in the Orion180 Tipoff Classic held at Benchmark International Arena — the same venue the Gators were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament last year by Iowa.
After the game, head coach Todd Golden and small forward Thomas Haugh spoke to the media bout their team's performance, discussing topics including the quality of Miami as an opponent, what Florida did well and did not do well, the performances of a few players in particular, plus a few other items of interest.
Below is a look at what the two had to say after their season-opening win against the Hurricanes on Monday night.
Todd Golden's opening statement
First of all, a lot of appreciation for our program for this event I thought
the organizers and the sponsors did a great job of putting this together and providing a great platform for our program to compete against a great team on opening night. Miami is a very good team. We knew that coming into this game.
We got to watch them put 109 points on Vanderbilt last week, which, obviously, is an incredible effort. I think that game gave us the proper respect both from a staff and a player standpoint to make sure that we approach this game with great focus and intensity. I don't think the game let us down. I thought we did a great job. Really proud of my team. We competed the right way.
We challenged our team over the past couple of weeks that we can't just compete and play hard. We have to play smart as well. I thought we did a better job putting those two things together tonight. This guy to my right was the best player on the floor tonight, as you can tell by his number. I'm going to give him a hard time about his free-throw shooting later, but everything else was this insane effort.
Both on the offensive, you know his numbers speak for themselves, but I thought his defensive effort tonight on No. 7 (Shelton Henderson) for Miami was elite. The guys did a great job of executing our defensive game plan. I thought our guys stepped up and shot the ball really well.
And last thing, I want to credit our bench. I thought the combination of Domen Petrovic, Urby Klavžar and Isaiah (Brown) was a huge lift for us tonight. They got some criticism in the preseason. I was criticizing them a little bit in the preseason and asking them for more, and they delivered for us tonight.
What did you see out of Domen in the last couple of weeks?
GOLDEN: He's just a really good player. We're fortunate this year, we have a lot of really good players. That was the benefit of the exhibition season. I know he didn't play a lot, but we tried some different lineup sin practice and we really liked what we were seeing with the combination two of the three with Tommy, Condo and Rueben and then letting him play a little bit.
Especially when Rueben was out of the game, we thought they kept us a little bigger. I thought he fought hard on the glass. Won a couple of 50-50 balls. Obviously, he gives us an element of a 6-9 shooter that can really stretch the floor. And the way he shot it with confidence tonight was a big lift for us.
You challenged Isaiah. He was plus-16. Was this the performance you were looking for?
GOLDEN: I'd say it was pretty good. What do you think?
Graham Hall: I'm not an expert.
GOLDEN: He was awesome. He was absolutely awesome. We've been really, I don't know if I would say hard on Isaiah, but we have challenged him a lot because he gave us such a great season last year that we were — we built this team planning on him playing a very important role. He just hadn't played his best in the exhibition games.
Tommy could tell you he had an incredible fall and was playing really, really well. We knew it would eventually show up. But as you said, plus-16 in 14 minutes that's really hard to do. I think he made a lot of winning plays, some big shots. He gave us a big lift.
You had a stretch when you held them to 1-for-19
HAUGH: That's a credit to this coaching staff. I was saying it earlier, I think the scout that they put together for this game was like the best scout I've had since being here at Florida. We were out there playing and it just felt like everything was moving how we knew it was going to move.
Nothing surprised us. We were able to stay on their tendencies of the guys and stuff. That's just credit to Coach Golden's staff and the all-star scout team at practice. I said in the locker room. They did a great job. I think that led to that 1-for-19 stretch.
Getting a win here given how last year ended
HAUGH: It's great. Come out here with a win. It feels awesome. I think those rims were a little bit more friendly to us today. Other than the foul shots, it was awesome.
Sitting in that locker room you were devastated. Did you think you'd have another shot to wear that uniform here?
HAUGH: I wasn't too sure, but you know, this guy to the left of me and my teammate, I knew where I wanted to be at the end of the day.
What makes Coach Golden just so fun to play for?
HAUGH: He's awesome. I say it all the time. He's like, one of the guys. He's going to go out there, joke around with us. But when it's game time, he's locked in; it's game time. It makes it so easy to compete for a coach like him. I think anybody in the nation, like if freshman, anybody needs to experience Coach Golden. It's credible.
On exorcising the demons from the last game in this building
GOLDEN: It feels great, man. And the reality is, like, Tampa is a great place for us to play. You can tell by the crowd tonight, it was a Gator-dominating crowd. I think they provided a huge lift for us, especially when we went on some runs and we needed some big stops.
And, you know, it's great because this will be the last night that I receive those questions of exorcising the demons, but all of us, you know, I'm really happy to be up here to sit with this guy again. Really happy to be coaching this group. And excited for what we have in front of us this year.
On Domen's trigger on threes in his first game when they needed the bench to step up
GOLDEN: I think we did some different things rotationally in practice, where we tried to get these guys comfortable, you know, playing really Tommy, Condo, and Domen. You know, that was kind of an issue we thought we had. We were a little small with that group, so we wanted to kind of give him a chance.
And, you know, he stepped up. He just, he stepped up. He knows he's a great shooter, that's one of his biggest strengths And I'm not sure I'm surprised, but I'm really proud of the way that he wasn't fazed. I mean, Miami is a really good team, man. They got some big, strong dudes out there.
This was a very SEC-like game from a physicality standpoint, and for him to step up and give us those minutes gives me a lot of confidence in him moving forward that he can play a key role for us.
On if it was hard to get into an offensive flow given the fouls and replays
GOLDEN: Yeah a little bit. We had some chances to kind of push this thing out, you know? Part of it was foul shots. I think the second half, I did a really poor job, getting these guys in good spots offensively against that zone. Like, I need to be a little more organized and make sure we stay aggressive and attacking in those moments.
But we had some big things that we could point to that weren't anywhere near good enough, which was: A, our free-throw shooting, and B, our ball-handling in the second half; I think we had 10 turnovers in the second half.
So, in a way, for us to be able to still win this game against this team by 10, with those severe issues, you know, when we play a game together, I think we're gonna be pretty tough to beat.
On if Alex Condon's value in this game doesn't show up in the box score
GOLDEN: Yeah, well, you know, he got caught in a rotation early when we went down, and then he got in foul trouble. So we were just trying to get him through the first half. I thought he did a great job, you know, staying poised, not allowing the early foul trouble to affect him negatively mentally.
And I thought he played a great second half, I thought he did a good job. He hit some big baskets against the zone that kind of slowed them down. Defensively, I thought his rim presence in both halves, but the second half was fantastic. He did a great job defending without fouling in the second half around the rim. And, you know, I think his minus-four, I think it's a little flukey, to be honest. I think he gave us some really, really effective minutes tonight.
You mentioned the free throw shooting, so I feel I can bring it up without getting crushed
GOLDEN: I'm still going to crush you.
On your confidence this FT shooting tonight is an outlier
GOLDEN: What'd you shoot from the line last year, do you remember?
HAUGH: Like 78%.
GOLDEN: That's pretty good.
HAUGH: We're gonna get in the gym, we'll be good.
GOLDEN: Listen, this was a big game, man. The biggest game tonight in college basketball by a lot. It was a sold-out crowd basically. This was a great experience for us, you know, and it gets us ready for the rest of the year. A little nerves, first game back.
You know, that free-throw shooting, I think it's a little flukey for us. I don't worry about us as a free-throw shooting team. I'm really excited about the three-point shooting; let's talk about that. We were 42% from three. Nobody thinks we can shoot. But I think we can shoot; I think we got a chance.
And again, just, you know, I think it was a little flukey, a little bit, but we definitely have to do a better job from the line moving forward."
Boogie's defense and his performance in second half
GOLDEN: I thought Boogie played a great floor game. He keeps us organized offensively. He does a great job at the top of our defense, picking up the ball, keeping it in front. Acaden is a very talented player. I thought he had some big moments for them.
But the key for us was we were going to live with him scoring a little bit. We didn't want him creating for others and assisting and getting (Somto) Cyril or (Malik) Reneau easy baskets. A huge part of the scout was no 3s for Dorn and Bland. They only got one and it was in transition after a bad turnover in the first half.
Great job by our players. We'll live with Acaden in this situation, taking a bunch of shots, if that means their shooters aren't getting shots and their bigs aren't getting dunks at the rim. To his credit, he put some tough shots in at the beginning of the second half. But they took and missed some tough ones late, and I think that's why they finished going 1-19 from the field.
Intensity tonight was different than exhibition games
GOLDEN: I mean, Franz, it's the real season now. The real season is here. We're playing a top 10-12 team in America. The intensity is going to be there. Maybe I need to worry more about exhibition season next year. But it's not a thing I'm currently worried about.
On being instrumental in putting together this event and how great it was to have 4 teams from the state here
GOLDEN: Yeah, obviously it's awesome. Honestly, credit to Miami, credit to Florida State, credit to FAMU. I don't think there's another event like this across America where 4 really good clubs got together. Charlie Ward brought his team down here to play against Florida State, who I think is really good. We're going to see them next week.
Credit to Coach Lucas. I think he's done an incredible job. He's revitalized that program very quickly. They were struggling a little bit at the end of Coach L's (Jim Larrañaga) run, even though he did a fantastic job, obviously, going to the Final Four.
But they are a really good team, man. This is going to be a big win for us. They are going to be one of the top teams in the ACC, for sure. So to be a part of a big event like this, hopefully we'll be able to keep this going and we'll be able to play this game, multiple games here in Tampa.
Haugh on grabbing his knee late
HAUGH: I was just cramping. I honestly haven't cramped in my whole life, so that was kind of random. I was cramping. I'm fine.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Todd Golden, Thomas Haugh talk Florida's season-opening win over Miami
