Todd Golden and the Florida Gators have proven to be one of the elite offenses in the country on their run to the Final Four, led by superstar guard Walter Clayton. The senior guard scored 34 points in the Final Four win against Auburn, with 20 of those coming in the second half.
The Gators have played many talented teams that are able to defend the ball, but Houston is a different level. The Cougars do a terrific job of making you play at their pace, and taking the shots that they want you to take. This is your classic elite offense against an elite defense, which should set the stage for a terrific basketball game.
Golden knows what his team faces in Houston, and thinks it will be a battle of contrasting styles.
“I think it’s going to be a contrasting battle that way,” Golden said Sunday. “Hopefully, we can get the game up and down a little bit. They’re going to impose their will as they’ve done on everybody this year. We’re a pretty tough team also. We’re going to have to do a better job than we did last night. I thought first half we let Auburn take it to us a little bit. We can’t allow that to happen tomorrow night.”
While both teams definitely have their strengths when it comes to a certain side of the ball, both teams are also elite on the opposite end. One thing Golden told reporters on Sunday is how great of ‘teams’ they both truly are.
“Yeah, it’s funny, analytically, us and Houston, on KenPom, our efficiency margin is within point one of each other over a hundred possessions,” Golden said. “We’re an elite offensive team, a top-10 defensive team. They’re a top-10 offensive team and elite defensive team.”
The Cougars were able to pull off one of the biggest comebacks in Final Four history against Duke, as they went on a 9-0 run in the final 33 seconds to complete a 14-point comeback. Many of the experts picked Duke to win the game, but Golden knows the Cougars are truly an elite team in their own right.
“They’re absolutely an elite team,” Golden said. “The way they guard, they’re going to make it really hard on us. I think they’ll pressure the ball screen, try to get the ball out of Walt’s hands. But they rotate, they’re long, they play so hard, so tough. We’re going to have great mental and physical toughness if we want to give ourselves a chance tomorrow night.”
The Gators are the favorite entering the game, but as Houston showed on Saturday night, that isn’t an issue to the Cougars. If the national championship is as good as the Final Four was, then college basketball fans are in for an absolute treat.
Tipoff for the game will be at 8:50 p.m. ET, live from San Antonio.
