Coach Todd Golden rejects wake-up call talk as top-seeded Florida resets for NCAAs

Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel on Mar 17, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

GAINESVILLE, Fla — Florida Gators coach Todd Golden prefers winning to wake-up calls, if given the choice.

Entering the SEC Tournament, he dismissed the notion that a loss could serve as a reality check for the red-hot, ultra-confident Gators. On Monday, Golden was forced to recalibrate after Saturday’s 91-74 comeuppance in the semifinals against Vanderbilt ended Florida’s 12-game winning streak.

“We’re going to definitely learn from it,” he said. “We’re gonna use it to our advantage for sure, but I’m never gonna be like, ‘Oh, man, I’m glad we lost.’

“I get it, but I’m not with it.”

The most lopsided loss under Golden in more than two seasons did not cost the Gators (26-7) the final No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament as the reigning national champions seek a rare repeat.

Florida (26-7) will face Prairie View or Lehigh at 9:25 p.m. Friday in Tampa’s Benchmark International Arena. Barring a major upset, the Gators would face the winner between No. 8 Clemson (24-10) and No. 9 Iowa (21-12) on Sunday for the opportunity to advance to Houston in the South Regional.

Golden likes the Gators chances Friday against whoever emerges from Wednesday’s play-in game.

Prairie View (18-17), sitting No. 300 in the NET rankings, won four games in five days to capture the SWAC tournament and an automatic NCAA bid. Ranked No. 275 in the NET, Lehigh (18-16) secured the Patriot League title and its NCAA berth with a 74-60 win against Boston University in the title game.

But the Clemson-Iowa winner will present a bigger challenge.

“Both those teams provide different challenges,” Golden said.

Clemson coach Brad Brownell, now in his 16th season, leads a hard-nosed, balanced group.

Making their third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the Tigers rank 333rd of 361 teams in adjusted tempo and 20th defensively, according to respected analytics guru Kem Pomeroy.

“Clemson is one of the tougher programs in America,” Golden said.

Senior forward RJ Godfrey leads the team with 11.9 points per game while shooting 61% and six current Tigers average between 10.2 and 5.4 points. But 6-foot-10 center Carter Welling, who averaged 10.2 points and a team-leading 5.4 rebounds, tore his ACL during the ACC tournament.

Meanwhile, Iowa plays even more deliberately, with an adjusted tempo rating 357. The Hawkeyes are efficient on both ends of the court, rating No. 30 in defense and No. 31 on offense.

“Iowa is really good offensively,” Golden said. “They have a great point guard, a really, really good coach that runs good stuff.”

Point guard Bennett Stirtz averages 20 points, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound senior followed first-year coach Ben McCollum from Division II Northwest Missouri to Drake last season, where he scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting to lead the No.11 Bulldogs to a first-round NCAA Tournament upset of No. 6 Missouri.

But the Hawkeyes could struggle against Florida inside. Tavion Banks, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward, leads Iowa with an average of 4.7 rebounds for a team averaging 29.4 — compared with nation-leading 45.4 for the Gators.

Florida outrebounded Vanderbilt 38-23 during Saturday’s SEC tournament semifinal and held a slight edge in second-chance points (14-11) as the Commodores stood their ground.

But the Gators did little else well.

The Commodores shot 54.5% — the highest percentage against Florida all season — and were 10 of 21 on 3-pointers. Florida’s nine first-half turnovers led to 20 points.

“We want to bring the fight to everybody,” Golden said. “Vandy got us because they ran to the fight quicker than we did.”

Golden didn’t fault his team’s effort but said Florida played rushed and disorganized offensively. The Gators fell behind by 15 points in the first half and could not recover while Vanderbilt controlled the tempo.

“We were just trying to play a little too fast,” he said. “Hopefully this week we can kind of get back to how we had been playing over the past two months, where we were very comfortable and playing fast but not in a hurry — and a lot of those kind of uncharacteristic turnovers weren’t showing up. It’s not a secret.”

A year ago, the Gators were a No. 1 seed led by All-America point guard Walter Clayton Jr. and a talented, veteran supporting cast. Florida still needed four second-half comebacks to win a national title, proving it will take something special again to join the 2006-07 Gators as repeat winners.

But Golden remains confident his current team is well equipped for another deep run despite coming off its worst outing of the season.

“I don’t think we’ve lost confidence. We got beat,” he said. “Vanderbilt beat us. They got us, and they did a great job. But I don’t think our team’s worried that we’re not good.

“We’re going to be ready to go on Friday.”