After making it back to the NCAA Tournament in Year 2 under Todd Golden, the Florida Gators are looking to keep improving in the 2024-25 season.
Several members of last year’s squad are back, and Golden has once again added some key pieces via the transfer portal. The third-year Florida head coach spoke for more than 24 minutes to the media on Tuesday and covered a wide range of topics.
The highlights — Florida needs to improve defensively and replace some offensive rebounding talent that’s not with the team this year. The staff feels good about where the Gators are heading into the season, but there’s still plenty of work to do.
Here’s everything Golden said on Tuesday.
How have summer workouts been?
“I think productive,” Golden said. “Obviously being able to bring back a lot of the same guys was really beneficial for us. Got a good seven weeks in the summer. I feel like we’ve had a productive couple of weeks here to start the fall.
“Obviously, 41 days now until the first game. We’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot of things that we got to get better at, but I think the foundation is pretty solid.”
On returning starter Walter Clayton Jr.
“Honestly, the biggest, area of improvement so far for Walt has been his consistent leadership. You know, I think that’s something that — as we were working together to find a path for him to come back to Florida last year and make sure that it was the right situation for everybody — that was something that was important to me.
“Kind of moving into that role where his leadership, both vocally and by example, had to be really, really consistent, and I think he’s done a great job that way. (He’s) showing a lot of improvement and taking on more, obviously, as the primary ball handler early in our offense.
“It will be a continued challenge, but he’s done a great job accepting that, getting himself in really good shape, which I think is really important for the way we intend to play.
“Listen, he’s a mature guy, and he understands this is kind of his last rip to show what he’s got. But, he’s been really, really good so far, and I anticipate him doing that.”
On replacing Zyon Pullin at PG
“I like our team, you know, and I think the one thing that gets lost a little bit is, you know, ZP was amazing for us. He did a great job, but your team’s not going to look the same every year. You’re gonna have one year where you maybe have more of a ball-dominant point guard. One year you have more of a guy that’s going to spread it out a little more, and you can play through different people.
“This collection of players I think works really, really well together. And so Walt’s going to have a lion’s share of it, but as you said, Denzel (Aberdeen) is a guy that we expect a lot of this year. He’s going to be playing on the ball quite a bit.
“Whether it’s Kajus (Kublickas), Urban (Klavzar), a number of those guys are all capable. Alijah (Martin), Will (Richard) will have some ball-handling responsibilities. You know, we’re going to do it by committee that way.
“The other benefit is our frontcourt is really good at handling the ball. So, if there’s times where we feel like we’re getting pressured or we need a little bit of help, when you got guys like Tommy (Thomas Haugh), Condo (Alex Condon), Rueben (Chinyelu) and Sam (Alexis), all four of those guys can make good decisions.
“I anticipate this team being good with the ball and being a good offensive team.”
What’s the strength of this team?
“I think we’re really mature. I think we play really, really hard, and I think we’re really unselfish. I think those three things specifically are kind of the identity of this group. People that have been to our gym see the level of competitiveness on a day-to-day basis. I think we’re really consistent that way.
“As I said before, we have a lot of work to do, but I think the bones of our foundation are strong that way. We shoot the ball, and like I said, we’re athletic. We run, we play hard. At the end of the day, as long as our guys compete, I’ll be okay to live with whatever happens.”
How does Florida keep improving in Year 3 under Golden?
“We’ve got to maintain the level of offense that we played last year. You know, top 15 offense in America, which is a good number. I would take that again.
“Clearly we need to get there on the defensive side of the ball. That was probably our Achilles heel last year. We didn’t spend as much time on defense last year as we did on offense, and I think you could probably see that with the way we played.
“This year, we’re doing a better job as a staff kind of allocating time and resources to both sides of the ball, and my hope is that will lead to us being a better defensive team. I do think our defensive talent is better this year. Specifically, the three guys that we brought in from the portal. Alijah Martin’s a very good defender, very strong, does a great job keeping guys in front, fights their screens, competes.
“Rueben’s a great rim protector. We have raised the bar a little bit that way. And Sam’s another really good rim protector. Good feel. He understands where to be, when to be. So, if we can maintain our offense and then obviously improve our defense, I think that’s the way we make a jump from last year.”
On the offensive focus in 2023-24
“I think we had the pieces to be better that way. Because of the commitment that we made to that side of the ball, I thought it probably limited our upside on the defensive end. So we wanted to make sure we got really good offensively.
“Whereas this year I don’t feel that way about our team defensively. I think we have a pretty good upside defensively. I’m not sure we’re as high of a ceiling that side as offense. But we’ll see. And again like I’m proud of the growth we’ve already made that way.
“I think Will and Walt are two guys specifically that have the ability to raise the bar on the defensive end compared to last year, and they’ve done it so far in practice. So, if we can continue to get that of them, which I’m very confident we will, I think it’ll kind of be a trickle-down effect to the rest of the players.
“Just how important it is to us, which should result in better results on that end.”
On replacing offensive rebounding success
“Micah (Handlogten) is really the one that I worry about not having. Tyrese was a good offense rebounder, for sure, but Micah was on the top 5 or 6 in America on the offensive glass. Not having him, we’ve got to make that up somehow.
“I think Rueben is a fantastic offensive rebounder in his own right, and then Sam again. Condo and Tommy should be a little better than last year. We need our threes to rebound a little bit better. But I think we will be a very good offensive-rebounding team again.
“We’ve got to be better defensively. I think we were a little inconsistent on that end on the glass. But without those guys, (there are) big holes to fill. But I’d be disappointed if we take a big step back that way.”
On Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh
“They’re making a jump in real-time. I feel like we probably got a little more out of them last year than we thought we would. We talked about that quite a bit last season, but it also kind of gave us this foundation to understand what they’re capable of and just the type of people they are. They’re incredible competitors, really smart guys and really driven.
“They both have high aspirations in terms of where they want their careers to go, and they spend a lot of time in the gym. Condo played with his Australian national team a little bit this summer. He got back here the day after they finished play and started working out with our guys.
“Tommy’s one of the best workers we’ve had, since I started coaching. I think both those guys are geared to really, really help us this year.”
On third-year Gators guard Will Richard
“Will, he kind of has the answer key in terms of what the coaching staff wants. He’s been with this long enough now that he knows me very well. He knows our staff really well. And I think we can do a better job of finding him some different looks in the offense that we weren’t as aggressive doing last year, which I think will help.
“Also, trying to put him in situations where he’s using spread ball screens. I think he was pretty good that way, when he had that opportunity last year. But again, now it’s his third year in the SEC. I think he’s incredibly comfortable. He’s another guy that, after getting some good feedback from the NBA, had a great summer.
“His body is the best it’s ever been. He’s more explosive than he’s ever been. He’s just maturing and getting, you know, bigger, stronger, more athletic. I think, naturally, he’ll make a jump and I anticipate his three-point percentage going up quite a bit from last year, kind of back to where it was the sophomore. He shot 40 from three on the year in conference play.
“I shouldn’t say I take them for granted, but guys like Walton and Will who’ve been in our program now for an extended period of time, I anticipate them kind of growing naturally, along the way.”
On Florida’s non-conference schedule
“I think it’s a really good schedule. We’re going to have good opportunities, whether it’s Virginia in here, North Carolina at the Jumpman (Invitational), at Florida State, our (ESPN Events Invitational) down in Orlando. We’re gonna play Wake Forest, which will more likely than not be a Quadrant 1 opportunity.
“So we’re gonna have some good opportunities, and then we have some, tricky home games and neutral. USF to start the season is going to be a really tough game. I mean, they’re a really good program. They showed that at the end of last year, and Southern Illinois is another team that is better than you would think coming in here in the non-conference. So, (the non-conference schedule is) challenging. I think it will definitely prepare us for SEC play, and that’s going to be a whole nother bear in its own right.
“I think we’ve put ourselves in position now that we’ve kind of made it to where we are as a program, where we can take on a more challenging non-conference and try to prepare ourselves for conference play that way.”
On Wash. State transfer F Rueben Chinyelu
“He had an incredible offensive rebounding rate, defensive rebounding block rate, and then two-point field goal percentage. With those filters and the numbers that he was able to achieve, I think there was like 15 guys over the last 15 years or something that did that, and I think 13 of them played in the NBA.
“So, the foundation’s there. I think the biggest thing Rueben will be defending without fouling. Can he defend without fouling? It’s a tricky one because he plays so hard and you don’t want to turn him down or slow him down. It’s part of what makes him who he is, how aggressive he is.
“But if he’s on the floor, he’ll be productive. He’s proven that. If he can get to the point where he’s playing 20-25 minutes a night, then I think he’s going to be really, really good. But that’s going to be up to him a little bit. Seeing if he can contain himself and not take cheapies that lead him to the bench before anybody wants him to be off the floor.
“He’s an incredible young man. Just an incredibly mature young man, who speaks a number of languages. An incredible student. I think he has the potential to play in the NBA. He also has the potential to be way smarter than anybody in our building, by a lot, and does great in the classroom. He’s prideful about it. Works hard academically as well.
“And again, he’s just a high achieving guy. He’s not ever going to do anything halfhearted. He’s going to be disappointed if he’s not winning. You stack enough of those competitive guys in a program, good things are going to happen.” I saw him getting an electric bike the other day. I was getting a coffee. Yeah. Who is? And it’s like this little guy could have a helmet on.
On international signee Urban Klavzar
“Honestly, we’ve known about him for a long time. We tried to get him over here when we first got to Florida, and just, he’s a very productive player at a high level in Europe. Played second division in Spain last year. Did a very nice job. I think he was over 50 from two, over 40 from three, scored about 8.5 points over 17 minutes a game and then had an incredible U20 tournament with Slovenia.
“They lost to France in the title game. I think Slovenia was like the 12th-ranked team going into it, and he played at such high level there, if they would have beaten France, he would have been a tournament MVP.
“I think he avearged 17 a game, really good, efficient shooting percentages. And again, he’s 20, so he’ll be an older freshman, but a guy that’s been through it a little bit and should be a little more prepared than most freshmen to help. He’s just a mature guy. Again, another hard worker. A lot of our guys are this way, and I think he’ll help us this year for sure.”
On 7-foot-9 freshman Olivier Roux
“He’s a great kid. Love his parents, and when they showed interest in coming here as a preferred walk-on, it was kind of a no-brainer for us in the sense of it’s a low-risk, high-reward opportunity for everybody.
“We have great resources and facilities. We feed our guys really well. You know, being 7-foot-8, 7-foot-9, just having all those resources, I think it was really important to him. We’ve seen guys like Zach Edey and Tacko Falll, have really, really good success at some point in their career. Obviously, it takes a while though.
“Because of his mindset and his willingness to come in and work, we felt like it was a worthwhile investment on both sides. I’m not sure how much he’ll play for us this year. If he’s helping us this year, he’s gotten really, really good. But, he’s a guy that I anticipate will continue to grow, and at some point, he’ll move the needle for us.”
On Walter Clayton Jr. scoring as a PG
“I honestly don’t think it’ll affect his scoring very much at all. You know, it’s similar to ZP. You know, ZP was a, high-scoring point guard, right? He averaged like 17 a game or whatever. I think Walt will keep scoring. That’s just his talent, one of his many talents, is being a great scorer. And I don’t want him to not be aggressive trying to score. I want him trying to score and then making plays.
“No, I don’t think (he has to change his mindset), to be honest. We need to take care of the ball, but I want him to be super, super aggressive. I want everybody on our team to be that way. So like I said, we’ll look a little different, but he’s not going to be, a slow-down kind of pass-first, facilitating point guard.
“So if that’s the image that you have, get that out of your head. He’s going to be an attacking point guard that’s making plays, trying to score. And the great thing about Walt is he always naturally makes the right play. He’s trying to score. He’s trying to be aggressive. But if he sees that help defender there, he’s going to find his teammate, and that’s something that he’s consistent in doing.
“It should allow him to expand his game a little bit, and I have confidence in his ability to do it for us.”
On FAU transfer F Alijah Martin
“Yeah, he’s been great. One of the benefits, I guess, of this new era is he had one year left and Elijah is very smart. A very mature dude, and he was able to find what he was looking for.
“He and his group had a good understanding of what they wanted. I think we showed that we had a really good opportunity for him that way. He and I got along really well and I thought we kind of built a good connection that we could trust each other to be able to work together in a short period of time.
“We were a little inconsistent on the wing last year in terms of just being able to execute and, and having a great level of energy and enthusiasm every day. He’s elite in that way. He competes every day. He brings fire and energy to our practices. He brings a vocal leader to our practices.
“The things that we were hoping he would bring, he’s doing. I think what he was hoping he’d be able to find here, he’s figuring it out and finding it here, and I think he’s going to have a really good year for us.”
On junior G Denzel Aberdeen
“I think if it weren’t for his progress, we would not be as comfortable (running a point guard by committee system). We’ve talked about this a lot. We thought he’d break out a little sooner. It took until the SEC tournament for him to really get comfortable and do it, but we had been seeing it in practice for a long time, and our staff just made the conscious decision as soon as the season was over, that we were going with him.
“We just believe in him to be a big part of that backcourt. He can play point guard, which I think is really helpful for the other guys, and he’s a guy that I think is a little bit of an unsung guy. Maybe not getting a lot of the notoriety and respect to some of our other more proven players, but up in our office, he’s a guy that we rely upon on that same level of some of those other guys that we talk about a lot.”
On assistant coach Taurean Green
“He plays a huge part. TG had a great year for us last year. I feel like he’s getting better as a coach every day. He obviously was an incredible player. He played for 15 years or whatever it was, was able to work with Billy (Donovan) for a year and get a really good understanding of the player development piece and he continues to evolve into a really complete coach.
“He spends a lot of time with their guys. He’s more influential in practice now. He’s earned the right to do that and to take on that role. I feel like we have a gem in him on our staff. You know, a guy that is incredibly loyal to me, to our staff, to the Gators. He wants this program to get back to where it was when he was playing.
“He’s a guy that started his coaching career as a good young talent and is evolving into a really, really good coach in real-time. There’s a reason why we’ve gotten better, and a big part of that is our ability to retain our staff through the first couple years. We’ve got great continuity. I think our staff has a really good understanding of how to work with each other, and it bleeds into the team, obviously.”
On Golden’s own development as a coach
“I think we’re doing all right. Last year was a big year for us, and it was important to take a jump after year one. Winning 24 games, I think we won 14 SEC games if you count the conference tournament, that’s hard to do. That really kind of gave us the confidence as a staff that we’re on the right track.
“Everything, I don’t want to say it gets easier, but the longer you are somewhere, the more confident you get in your processes. Things start working a little easier together.
“And I thought we had a good offseason. I thought we added the pieces we needed to, retained the ones that we really wanted to keep and one area that we’re challenging ourselves as staff this year is to get better defensively. How can we make a jump, that’s an area where we talk about enough.
” If we come back as the hundredth-best defense at the end of the year, I’m not going to be very happy with what we did as a staff, you know? We’re constantly evaluating ourselves, looking at our process and what we’re doing, seeing how we can get better and it’s just different every year. It’s different with every team you have. You’ve got to figure out the best way to coach that collection of guys, but I think we’re on the right track.
“We’re very competitive in this league right now and our goal is to become a top-four team in this league consistently, which is not easy, and would be a heck of an accomplishment if we’re able to do that. That’s kind of the goal, and I think we’re getting there.”
What’s it like to coach at a basketball school?
“That’s not the case, as you know. It’s it’s an everything school,” Golden said through many laughs. “But yeah, I think, I’m excited for this year.”
“I would say just more exclusively to our program, people are excited about the growth of our team from years one to two, and the fact that we added some good pieces. Again, I think the continuity piece is really exciting to a lot of people in this day and age.
“I think of some of our biggest supporters and talking to them about how excited they are that Walt and Will are back, right? That’s unique. It’s just unique nowadays for them to come in and see Tommy and Condo and Denzel. Having that continuity and that familiarity with them year over year is something that I think our fans are really excited about.
“Last year was tricky. We had nine new guys. This year, it’s less and a lot of the same guys that were successful for us last year will be back on the floor this year. And I think that’s what our fans are most excited about, kind of the idea of building upon that and seeing if we can make good progress this year or not.”
“I think it speaks to what’s important to us as a, as a program, we definitely are trying to do that. We’re trying to make sure that we bring the guys that we feel like are the best guys in our program back year after year if they continue to have a good attitude and play for the team.
“We worked hard to get Walt back. We worked hard to get Will back. The same goes for Condo, Tommy and Denzel because that’s what we believe in. That’s the kind of program I played in at Saint Mary’s. That’s how we got good at Columbia. That’s how we got good at San Francisco. And my idea is, if we can do that same kind of thing at a place like Florida, we should get really, really good.
“So, that’s kind of the reason behind it. But yes, it is in a sense validating when the guys that you perceive as your best players come back for sure.”
On freshman G Isaiah Brown
“Stud,” Golden said before remembering an AAU tournament he saw Brown play in.
“Honestly he had a bad tournament, but he was like really sick. I’m not sure how much he got out of that experience, but Isaiah’s fantastic. He’s a great player. We take him for granted a little bit because he is a guy that’s a freshman, but you watch him play, it’s like a junior out there.
“He knows all the angles. He’s a great team defender. He knows how to cut, how to get to the glass offensively. He makes a lot of winning plays. He’s a guy that we were just talking about at lunch. You can put him in a game tomorrow and you feel like, even as a freshman, he’s going to be fine. He’s going to be okay.
“He’s a guy that I think is going to challenge me a lot early in the season because I think there’s going to be a lot of times where he’s earned the right to get out there a little bit. And if he does that, he’ll be playing.”
“He can make shots, but again I think his best quality is that he has a lot of winning attributes. Just little things that don’t necessarily show up in the box score every day. But his teams win a lot. He is what we hoped he would be when we got him and I’m really happy he’s here with us.
What need to happen on defense?
“The main things that we’re going to be thinking about a lot are like, kind of like a big picture-wise, is two-point field goal percentage. We’ve got to be a better rim-protecting team. Part of that is protecting the rim better but also making sure that they don’t get as many rim shots.
“So, that’s one area, that we really need to get better at. I think our ball screen defense needs to be a lot better. And then lastly, we got to be better off defending without fouling. I think those three areas, if we can make like a marked improvement in those, we’ll do what we need to do.
“We guarded the three pretty well last year. Our transition defense is pretty good, but I think those other three areas will really determine how big of a jump we really do make.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-26 11:25:00
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