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Todd Golden talks Florida's rout over Jacksonville in home opener
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- Todd Golden talks Florida's rout over Jacksonville in home opener
Florida basketball opened up its 2026-27 home schedule on Thursday night with an 88-57 win over the Jacksonville Dolphins inside the O'Connell Center. The top-ranked Gators are now 2-0 early on as they continue their endeavor for a national title.
After the game, head coach Todd Golden spoke with the press about his team's performance, including his frontcourt players — specifically Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon, and Thomas Haugh — as well as his bench players, while also mentioning coaching and training staff. He also briefly looked ahead to his team's next opponent: the Florida State Seminoles, whom they face on the road next Tuesday.
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Below is a look at everything Golden said after Florida's blowout victory over Jacksonville.
Todd Golden's opening statement
I thought we played pretty well. Jacksonville, I thought, did a good job in the first half just slowing tempo and kinda keeping that game within reach. And then, obviously, the last four minutes of the first half, I just think we wore them down a little bit and making some shots and turning misses into transition opportunities and got that lead up to 22 pretty quick.
Played the right way in the second half with the exception of a couple of early turnovers. Their bigs hit a couple 3s early, which wasn't ideal, but the back-half of the second half, I thought we guarded very, very well. I want to credit our bench that came in. The guys that don't generally play a lot, I thought they defended really well. They competed, they defended, they got on the glass.
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Offensively, we weren't great in those minutes, but they were trying to execute and trying to defend the right way. Shot the ball well, again, made the free throws tonight. Just a good effort against a scrappy Jacksonville team.
On Alex Condon's and Rueben Chinyelu's chemistry
I mean, there both just really, really good basketball players. They're big, they're strong, they're smart. Unselfish. They play hard. They play together. And now they've been together for three years. Just that combination, I think, is pretty tough to beat.
On Condon's efficiency, close to a triple-double
He was ridiculous in the first half. Just the way he played. He was zipping the ball around the floor. He had some really, really fantastic assists, looking for 3-point shooters and the cutters. Was finishing, making his free throws. He's just playing really well. There's not much more to say other than that. I think he's playing very confidently and playing the right way. Good things are going to happen for him when he does that.
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Thoughts on leaving Condon in to go for the triple-double
Yeah, I mean, there was a thought, but at the end of the day, a big thing that we talked about going into this game was that was this is all about us and playing towards a standard and not worrying about individual success. So, it'd be a little counter intuitive in that moment to kind of leave him in there and get an individual statistic when we were playing for the team and for the standard.
Could've. Maybe should've. But I think he'll have other opportunities this year where he might be getting close to triple-doubles.
On AJ Brown and Jones Lay making their debuts
I'm sure they're both pretty elated to get on the floor. To kind of earn some of the reward of all of the hard work and dedication that they've put toward the program. They're in a difficult spot in the sense of they're not getting a ton of minutes. They're practicing hard every day. They're getting beat up by our front court, and they keep coming back with a great attitude and great energy. I'm happy for both of them that they were able to get out there.
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On having bigs like Haugh and Condon who can start breaks themselves
They're both really athletic. They're both very capable decision-makers. With the transition push, I do think it's more challenging for teams to stop them in transition when a front court player is bringing it up if they're capable of doing that because they get in some mismatches in terms of their matchups.
So, obviously, those guys have my trust, and I believe in their ability to make decisions in transition, and it kind of gives us another element offensively.
On scoring 3s at a high level
It's very great. It's a big part of what we need to be the best team we can be. I think we're taking the right ones; we're not forcing a ton of threes, they're coming in our offense or in transition and we have the right guys taking them. If that continues, I think we'll continue to shoot the ball well all year.
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What kind of mentor are you trying to be to younger coaches at UF?
Just trying to lead by example in terms of what our program does and the type of student-athletes that we bring in and the type of staff that we have. And also try to be there to support, or to listen if any of these coaches have any questions in regards to what it takes, or if they want any help, you know, kind of the philosophy in terms of how to build a program.
But we have some incredible new coaches here at Florida right now. Just really pleased to have them. I think anybody in the administration or within the coaches would tell you that there's really good energy and just good relationships and belief amongst the coaches. I feel like we all have a similar desire to do the best we can to make Florida great, and I think that's something that's pretty special. Really good energy.
We had a staff meeting today, as a matter of fact. Head coaches meeting this afternoon. Just to get everybody together and to see how excited people are, it's exciting. It's really neat.
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On Haugh's all-around floor game setting the tone
He's a great leader by example. I thought he had his best leadership game or moment in Miami that he's had since he's been here with his voice. Really standing up in big moments, being a calming influence and being someone that the players could lean on.
He's obviously playing with a high level of confidence right now. He knows he's a really good player. He's taking what the defense gives him; he's not trying to do too much. The great thing for Tommy is he's going to be a very similar player in the NBA that he is here at Florida.
He doesn't have to be somebody he's not; he doesn't have to try to do things that don't come within the offense or come in transition. He's going to be very productive if he continues to play with this mentality."
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On the Florida State game
Incredibly excited for the game. I think Luke has done a great job in a short period of time getting those guys playing really hard, playing together, and playing without fear. I think that's something that makes them uniquely scary. When a team isn't afraid to fail you can get pretty good performances from them.
I just talked to the guys about Tuesday night. We're going into enemy territory as the No. 1 team in America. We're gonna get their best shot and they're gonna be well prepared and we have to bring our best effort. It's definitely one we're looking forward to.
On what it means to have a healthy roster
It's incredibly important for the long-term success of our team. And knock on wood, I think a big part of that is our strength coach Victor Lopez and our trainer Jon Michelini. I think we have the best tandem that way in America. Our guys are strong, they're athletic, and they're well conditioned. We've, knock on wood, been very healthy since we've been here.
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Like I said, when you play in the SEC, you need to have bodies. You're not going to be okay only having six guys and trying to survive. Fortunately for us, we have depth, we have bodies, and it's the type of roster that can get yourselves through SEC play. But it's definitely very important to our success.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Todd Golden talks Florida's rout over Jacksonville in home opener
