Todd Golden began his press conference Sunday with a short and simple message:
“Pretty grateful it’s not November 2 right now.”
The Florida basketball coach uttered those words because the Gators did not look like the national title favorite they hyped up to be Sunday.
UF fell 80-74 in overtime Sunday at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville to Baylor in a stunning upset. The Bears, although led by championship winning coach Scott Drew, finished 17-17 last season and missed the NCAA Tournament. The Gators, meanwhile, are expected to be the preseason No. 1 ranked team.
It was a game that saw Florida started slow and suffer through way more bad than good, but Golden expressed this is why exhibitions are played. Sunday was the first known time UF has faced a Power 4 squad in an exhibition game.
“Get an opportunity to figure some things out and learn from your mistakes,” Golden said. “I think there’s going to be great opportunity to address a few issues after today’s game. Does it change our mentality? A little bit.”
Florida basketball fails to get in rhythm offensively, play fast
Golden said that set the tempo from the opening tip. Florida received 9-10 open looks from three, Golden estimated, yet only knocked down one on 13 shots.
“We allowed those misses to affect us and started pressing a little bit,” Golden said.
The pace was also not at the level Golden and Thomas Haugh desires. The senior scored a team-high 19 points, but it came on 4-of-13 shooting.
“This team strives a lot on getting off transition and pushing the ball, like getting into quick screens, and today, we were walking the ball up,” Haugh said. “It wasn’t how we were going to play.”
However, Golden isn’t worrying too much. He thinks the 35 free throws showed the Gators created opportunities in the half court. Florida only made 22 of those free throws though.
“Process over results,” Golden said.
The coach said defensively the Gators did a fine job shutting down Baylor guard Kayden Mingo, but the sophomore still exploded for a game-high 31 points.
Gators guards, bench struggle to produce
Outside of the frontcourt starters and Boogie Fland, the offense found difficulty generating. Call it nerves in his first game back in a Florida uniform or something else, but Denzel Aberdeen struggled mightly.
He did improve late in the second half, including hitting a jumper to send the game into overtime, but the guard shot 3-of-17 and 0-of-10 from three.
“He’s had a really good fall. I thought he was not good today,” Golden said. “First game back, I’m sure there’s a lot of emotions for him, just trying to get him back comfortable. He’ll play better moving forward.”
The bench stumbled even more. Urban Klavzar failed to score and shot 0-of-7. Same with Isaiah Brown. AJ Brown scored the only bench points – on a three.
Like with the offensive pace, Golden thought the Browns and Klavzar played the right way but just couldn’t make shots. Games like that can’t happen, though, in the regular season.
“1-14 from the bench is never going to be good enough,” Golden said. “Urb, he had an off night by his standards, and we need Isaiah to be better. He was a guy who played really well for us last season, and he was not himself or his best today.”
CJ Ingram missed the game due to a lower back injury, and his presence might have helped, but Golden said he’s open to other options.
Baylor coach Scott Drew went 10 deep, but Golden stuck with eight players. Those like Alex Lloyd and Domen Petrovic didn’t touch the floor.
“We got to take a look at some other guys who didn’t get an opportunity today that have been playing well in practice,” Golden said.
The Gators face Stetson in another exhibition game Tuesday, September 27, at 7 p.m. at the O’Connell Center before the regular season opens Monday, November 2, vs. Miami in Tampa.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1, Instagram @Ramreporter and Facebook Noah Ram - Reporter.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida basketball gains lessons for regular season in Baylor exhibition upset