Florida basketball scored its third win of the young 2026-27 campaign on Tuesday night with an 81-72 victory over the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee. Though unranked coming into the game, the 'Noles proved to be a pesky opponent, but the Gators were able to prevail in their first true road game of the season.
After the final horn sounded, Todd Golden spoke to the press about his team's performance. Among the topics of discussion were the respect the head coach has for his opponent, as well as Boogie Fland's injury, making 17 straight free throws, limiting FSU from beyond the arc, Isaiah Brown's contributions, shutting down Marcis Ponder, dealing with the zone defense, Thomas Haugh's game, and more.
Below is a look at everything Golden
said after the Gators beat the Seminoles in the third game of the season.
Todd Golden's opening statement
I thought we did a great job of being mentally and physically tough tonight. Not our best effort in terms of taking care of the ball. I thought that we were a little disorganized offensively. That falls on my shoulders, but I thought our guys competed incredibly well.
Really stepped up in the second half, took advantage of our free throw opportunities. I think that slowed the game down a little bit, which was in our favor at that point. I think Florida State is a really, really good team. I think Luke's doing a great job. He has these guys playing with great toughness, with a lot of purpose. They're a very difficult team. I think they're a top 25 level team. I think they will continue to get better. They're definitely underrated right now, but I do not think they will be for long.
Watching them play Auburn and LSU in exhibition season, seeing the way they performed last week, and then seeing them up close and personal. I think this is a really, really good club that Luke and his staff have assembled here in Tallahassee. Great win for us. Anytime you can win a rivalry game on the road, it's a great win. I'm pleased that we beat these guys five times in a row.
On earning a true road win in Tallahassee
It's obviously a little elevated because it's a rivalry game. As I said, I think this program here is on the rise. They have good momentum. There's a lot of excitement around this game. They marked it as a sellout, which obviously there's some momentum and excitement. People wanted to be here to watch this game. Anytime we can come in here and get a win, regardless of whether it's pretty or not, it's one that we're going to take a lot of pride in.
On the toughness of Boogie and what happened to him on the play he got injured
It just looked like he got his shoulder jammed up a little bit. Nothing dirty. I think just a basketball player. That happens when you're playing hard and flying around like Boog does. I was a little nervous that we weren't going to have him after the play. I didn't really see exactly what happened. But he's a pretty tough kids, and he was laboring a little bit, but the minutes he gave us when he came back we were absolutely huge.
To your point, the and-one, he was fantastic defensively in the second half, and they did a really good job at the point of our defense and late-game organization. I don't think guards, in that moment, get enough credit for the fact Florida State's incredibly athletic team. They practice and work on pressure a lot, and we didn't have one turnover in the backcourt as we had to finish and ice this game.
So he deserves a lot of credit for the organization, and the way we finished."
On making 17 straight free throws at the end
We had about four minutes to go in the first. We had a six- or seven-point lead, and I felt like we had a chance to give them a little knockout blow and we didn't. We just turned it over. To their credit, they made shots, and it was a two-point game at halftime. That difference would have been a little more sizable if we had shot a decent percentage in the first half from the line.
So it put us in a little bit of a difficult spot, but our ability to make 17 in a row. It was just absolutely huge. It allowed no momentum swings in the game. It allowed us to set our defense and make it more of a half-courtish game, which I thought was good for us.
On limiting FSU to 4-for-21 from 3
I thought we did a really good job of forcing the right guys to take them from the right spots. And I think Florida State's good at a lot of things. I'm not sure if they're not an elite shooting team, and I know what a non-elite shooting team looks like. We've been that for a little bit.
And we really wanted to prevent them from getting in the paint, getting into the rim, whether it's Rancik, whether it's Anthony, whether it's Abaev or Taylor. Like, these guys are really difficult to guard when they get downhill.
On two offensive rebounds and a pair of free throws after FSU's second 3
Yeah, that was a big moment. I thought there were a couple opportunities again for us to really extend the game. We had that one position. I think we were up six. We had an open 3 from Urbie, missed it and it goes the other way for an and-one in transition. A couple swing plays that really affected us.
But a great example that you just mentioned of just being physically tough and finding a way to make winning plays in big moments.
On the quality minutes from Isaiah Brown
I thought he was great, you know. Obviously, his ability to give us nine points off the bench, hit two big threes in each half that were really kind of, they settled us down. Great transition finish. I thought he was, you know, he was just impactful on the floor. I thought him and Urby were very good that way.
I thought DP (Domen Petrovic) honestly played fine. You know, we can't afford the turnovers he had, but he made some good winning plays out there as well. Our bench did a really good job. I think we were 22-to-6 on the bench scoring tonight.
On shutting down Ponder
"He was going against Rueben. Rueben's the best defender, best rebounder in the country. Ponder's a very good young player. He's going to be great, but that's a matchup that we expect to win at this point in the season and this point of their respective careers.
On all of Haugh's ability to answer and step up in the moment
Yeah, he's just, you know, the ultimate winning player, you know, and whether it's banging a couple big threes, getting some defensive stops, cleaning up, you know, their boards or getting us second chances, he always values the basketball. Another game with no turnovers for him.
He just keeps getting better and better, you know, and I think that's really exciting for us and for him. And, you know, he's proving that he's one of the better players in America right now.
How facing Miami in the season-opener paid off with the zone coverages FSU deployed
I think it helped us more on our defensive end. Florida State's very tricky because they switch defenses so much and they try to mask what they're in and try to keep you confused. And it's really hard to go against you know, especially in a loud gym where I'm trying to communicate with our team or our point guard and, you know, nobody can hear anything.
But I think where the Miami game really helped us in preparation was they are a very good downhill team also, whether it's Shelton Henderson, you know, and Malik Reneau in the post, like they're big, they're physical, and we had similar gameplans in the sense of on the defense end, we wanted to keep them out of the restricted area.
We wanted to keep them out of the paint. We would live if they hit a couple stop-behind threes, tough shots. But we really wanted to win the free throw battle and obviously, getting 41 to their 18, you know, we did the job. But a big part of that was the way we guarded, you know. We wanted to keep them in front of us. We wanted to gap ball screens, so they couldn't get those downhill advantages or heads of steam where we're not legal guarding, and we end up fouling.
They got us late a little bit that way, but we did an elite job really for the first 35 minutes of the game in defending without fouling.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: 'I thought we did a great job': Todd Golden talks rivalry win over FSU
