Florida basketball head coach Todd Golden was not happy with his team's performance in an 84-80 loss against the TCU Horned Frogs on Thanksgiving.
The Gators hoped to use the holiday multi-team event as a launching pad for a pair of upcoming matchups with top-5 opponents, but now they are left scrambling for a third-place finish in San Diego. Despite a significant size advantage, Florida allowed TCU to get to the rim often in the second half. The Horned Frogs outscored the Gators, 45-39, after halftime, while going 0-5 from 3-point range.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFouls and turnovers continue to be an issue for the Orange and Blue. Both starting guards, Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee, fouled out of the game — the former with four turnovers. Despite scoring 20 points, Thomas Haugh had an uncharacteristic game, fouling four times and turning it over five times. Rueben Chinyelu also had four fouls and four giveaways.
Here's everything Golden said after the loss.
Breaking down the loss
"I think we did a horrendous job taking care of the basketball. We played well enough, at points, to get ourselves a 10-point lead. With 15 minutes to go, even without playing that well to be honest, we were valuing the ball, making good decisions.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"The last 15 minutes, we did a terrible job that away. I thought our defense was really poor in the second half. We gave up 57% from the field."
On TCU scoring in the post easily
"We had some really poor, kind of mental execution of the scout. We got cut by Posey a number of times, and he's a guy that I thought we made it pretty clear what he's best at — which is rim pressure and cutting. A guy that hasn't taken a 3, and he killed us.
"We got cut a couple of other times, missing blockouts late. Just some things that are controllable, and those are the areas that we really try to focus on. Again, it goes back to the turnovers, and not being tough enough liiting their opportunities."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOn Florida's turnover problem
"Credit to (TCU), they're a good team. They are tough to go against defensively, but we just had some egregious decisions. We had some plays where we just didn't value the ball very much. Talking to the team, that's what we addressed. We're going to be able to determine and dictate how the season goes to an extent, but the first thing is obviously doing a better job taking care of the basketball. That can't be a thing for us the rest of the year.
"We have to understand that for us to be out best, we have to be a gritty, tough-nosed team that doesn't allow teams to shoot 57% on us (in the second half). It's got to be who we are. If we are unwilling to execute those things, it's going to be a tough year. It's going to be up-and-down, depending on how we shoot the ball, and that's obivously been an issue for us."
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida Basketball head coach Todd Golden talks Gators loss to TCU
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