Todd Golden Praises Gators' Competitive Growth Throughout 2022-23

Florida head coach Todd Golden points to growth in competitiveness as biggest step forward for Gators in year one of his leadership.

Photo: Todd Golden; Credit: Zach Goodall

The Todd Golden-led Florida Gators (16-16, 9-9- SEC) are NIT-bound. It follows a challenging first year at the helm for the former San Francisco Dons leader.

He's preached the importance of being process-oriented rather than harping on results during 2022-23, mainly due to the lapses in the team's performance that don't align with his view of what Florida will be at its peak under his tutelage.

As a result, the program failed to turn the head coach's preseason expectations of returning to the NCAA Tournament into reality, but in his eyes, they've set a firm foundation to build off of heading into the ensuing campaign.

"I think we've become as a program a lot more competitive," Golden said candidly about where the team grew the most. "We weren't very good at it early in the year. Thought we had moments where we didn't push through.

"But, over the course of the back half of December into our conference schedule, I thought we did a fantastic job that way. Obviously, took us a little bit to get over Colin's injury, figure ourselves out. We had a game or two where we weren't in a tight one late. Other than that, you look at any game we had on our schedule in conference play, I thought we were in it to the wire. In most of those games we had a big deficit, we did a good job rallying back, finding a way to compete.

"That level and understanding what it takes to keep yourself on the floor in our program. In our program, you got to compete regardless of the results, be consistent that way. I thought our guys have done a really good job of growing that way over the course of the year."

After playing most of the conference slate on the bubble — following one of the most daunting out-of-conference schedules in the nation, ranked the 25th toughest by TeamRankings — Florida was on track to finish just outside the tournament field, barring any significant push in the SEC Tournament following a home loss to Vanderbilt.

Then, Colin Castleton went down with a broken hand in a get-right victory over Ole Miss, effectively derailing his fifth-year senior season and the Gators' already slim chances to make a late-season run for March.

"Yeah, well, obviously Colin was instrumental on both sides of the ball for us," Golden said. "So, he gets out. Now it's not like losing a guy where your bench needs to pick it up. This is losing your leading scorer, your offense and defense anchor. Two through 13 have to step up and take on more responsibility and roles."

They had minimal time to indulge in reinvention efforts as a trip to Fayetteville, Ark., to take on Eric Musselman's Razorbacks sat on the other side of the injury. It kick-started a three-game losing skid. However, while resulting in losses, the stretch showed signs of hope for the team beyond the current calendar season, specifically from young talent.

The Gators used the glimmers of sunlight to flip a switch in the year's final two games and seemingly found their answer(s) for the future.

Re-gaining its footing on the road in Athens, Ga., Florida rode the wave of true freshman Riley Kugel's emergence into the spotlight as an elite scoring option and Will Richard's surge as a perimeter shooter to break free from the downward trend against Georgia.

Their contributions in that contest served as an example for the 2023-24 season, as they served as the team's cornerstones.

Kugel and Richard proved that standing as stars to catalyze Florida's comeback efforts to bury LSU on March 4 in the regular-season finale. 

It embodied their head coach's message immediately following Castleton's exit from the hardwood.

"Getting into the last week of our schedule, everybody just lifted each other," Golden said on Thursday when asked about the unit's ability to find success down the season's stretch despite the circumstances. 

"Starting with that Georgia game, everybody picked each other up, shot it well, we were competing to finish defensively. Thought we did a great job that way second half against LSU and thought we did a great job today for the most part. It was that opportunity that was provided to others.

"We had to obviously ask a lot more out of everybody. It took us a little bit to figure it out. But I think we got back there for the most part."

On the surface, UF's record indicates another below-average season — relative to expectations — that leaves Gator fans desiring much more from the last back-to-back national championship winners in college basketball, and rightfully so.

However, the team's multiple double-digit comebacks, standing as top ten defensive squads in college basketball prior to Castleton's injury, increased fluidity offensively with Kugel as the main piece and noticeable ability to hang in games despite facing adversity early highlight the bricks that have been placed under the feet of those in the rebuilding program.

Golden understands the dire need to compete at a high level while at the helm of the UF program. The upcoming offseason will be crucial as the Florida staff attempts to retool a roster that loses five seniors to complement Kugel and Richard, looking toward the transfer portal to pieces at the one and five while finding.

Simultaneously, he's aware that the process is a marathon rather than a sprint.

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