Most of the headlines for Florida’s win over Tennessee revolve around the massive afternoon that Boogie Fland had. After getting a haircut during the week, Fland had his best game as a Gator and led the way with 23 points.
But beyond Fland finally finding his scoring touch, Todd Golden made sure to highlight after the game that Florida’s defensive approach was massive in sparking the offensive end.
Florida blows out Tennessee
Golden was asked at his post-game press conference about the fact that Florida forced 18 turnovers and scored 30 points off those turnovers.
Golden also noted the fact that Florida itself protected the ball, something they have struggled with throughout the season:
“We just valued the basketball, you know, with the exception of a couple silly -- we had one backcourt outlet turnover, maybe two of those. But other than that, I thought, especially in our half-court, we did a really good job of fighting for really good shots.
We talked about Tennessee's ability to defend, and that they're not going to give you much early in the half-court, and that you're going to have to work a little bit side to side to break them down. And we did a good job that way. So that was a big reason why we took care of the ball.
Our defense has to lead to offense for us at times. And I thought we did a great job of that, especially with our baseline out of bounds. D was fantastic. It led to some run-out layups. And we just did a great job after the first four minutes of the game, where we were kind of trying to feel it out of executing our game plan, of keeping them out of the middle.”
Gators back on track
Despite a tough non-conference slate and having already racked up more losses than all of last year, analytics still have faith in the Gators. Florida is ranked 12th in KenPom and will probably wind up back in the AP top 25 when the new poll is released.
The biggest thing about Florida’s win on Saturday is that version of the Gators could make a return run to the Final Four. Florida has proven they can hang around with anyone; they just didn’t have the scoring touch to close things out against Arizona, Duke, or UConn.
But if Fland starts hitting shots and Florida’s defense keeps looking like it did against Tennessee, don’t be shocked if the Gators are cutting down more nets in 2026.