With its head coach under fire off the court, No. 21 Florida will strive to continue its unbeaten start to the season when Florida A&M visits on Tuesday night in Gainesville, Fla.
Todd Golden has guided the Gators (4-0) to an unscathed record so far despite dealing with an ongoing school inquiry into alleged sexual harassment and stalking allegations that surfaced recently.
Golden addressed the matter in recent days and said he is considering filing a defamation lawsuit.
“What’s personally getting me through this right now?” Golden told reporters recently. “Respecting the situation, my family, my team, my coaching staff. We’re just continuing to attack it like we normally would every day.”
Meanwhile, on the court, Golden is focusing on Florida’s strong start, which continued last Friday with an 87-74 road victory over rival Florida State.
The Gators prevailed thanks to a solid effort from Walter Clayton Jr., who finished with 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting, five rebounds and three assists. Clayton was one of three Florida players scoring in double figures and one of nine who got on the scoresheet. Alijah Martin had 17 points and Sam Alexis continued to play well off the bench with 12 points.
The Gators also rebounded well against a tough Florida State frontcourt, finishing with a 47-29 edge overall, including 34-15 in defensive boards.
“That was the offset for us, right? We lost the turnover battle by 11 (19-8), but we won the boards by 18,” Golden said after the game. “And, you know, sometimes it’s as simple as that. … We shot 52 percent from the field (32 of 61), but they won the shot battle. They got nine more attempts (70) than we did, and four more free throws than we did (21-17). That’s usually a losing proposition, but the glass is what saved us.”
The Gators will try to iron out some of those deficiencies against Florida A&M (0-3), which has struggled to stay competitive in three lopsided losses so far against power-conference teams.
Tyler Shirley and Sterling Young have been a couple of the bright spots for the Rattlers during this tough opening stretch. Shirley led FAMU with 10 points and seven rebounds against Maryland in its most recent defeat on Nov. 11.
Florida A&M continued to struggle with opponents getting off to fast starts, as Maryland scored the game’s first 15 points and never trailed. The Rattlers also found themselves down 33-9 in the first half of their loss to TCU and 40-19 before halftime against SMU.
The Rattlers have shown moments of offensive efficiency, including shooting 39.2 percent from the field against the Terrapins. But FAMU struggled from 3-point range (28.6 percent) and made only 7 of 17 free throws.
Turnovers have been a huge problem so far in turning potentially competitive games into blowout losses quickly. Florida A&M committed 12 turnovers in its opener against TCU and it became progressively worse, as it then lost 15 turnovers against SMU and 22 against Maryland.
–Field Level Media
