Final Four: Todd Golden credits 'heart and just toughness' for Florida's win over Auburn

The Florida Gators defeated their Southeastern Conference rivals, the Auburn Tigers, in the Final Four of the 2035 NCAA Tournament on Saturday night, 79-73, to earn a chance to play against the Houston Cougars for the national championship.

Much like the Orange and Blue's previous matchups with the UConn Huskies and Texas Tech Red Raiders, Todd Golden's gang needed a second-half comeback to emerge victorious, battling back after entering the locker room at halftime down by eight. Once again, destiny smiled on the Gators and guided them to their second triumph over the Tigers this year.

Following the game, an ecstatic Golden spoke with the sports media bout his team's performance and what it is like to walk onto the biggest stage in college basketball. Below is a look at his takes from the latest chapter of March Madness.

Todd Golden's opening statement

"Just so, so proud of my team, my players, my staff. Just done an incredible job all year with their preparation and approach on a daily basis. Obviously a great accomplishment for our program to make it here to the Final Four. But the heart and just toughness both physically, mentally that these guys showed today was incredible. Credit Auburn.

"Obviously an incredible team, one of the best college basketball teams in the past couple decades. You all know how much I love Bruce and Steven and their program. With that being said, I'm incredibly proud of these guys for getting this win. We're alive, man. We're playing for this national championship on Monday night."

Was tonight a testament to the unflappability of this group?

"Yeah, to answer your question, in short form, it's 100%. Great example of that. I thought Auburn played great in the first half. We did some nice things, but we did not have an answer for their physicality in the paint. They were 13 of 18 from two.

"The way our game plan, we weren't executing it very well and it wasn't working very well. We get to halftime, Tommy was right, Coach Hartman tried to get us going a little bit. The main message at halftime was we have to get back to doing what we do and executing in a positive way.

"We scored right out of halftime. I think we got a stop, got the ball back, hit a three to make it 9. From that point forward I thought we did a good job ever getting back to ourselves. Our bigs did a great job in the second half defending and rebounding. We ended up plus-11 on the glass, plus-9. We were down 1 at halftime. We did a great job of guarding Johni one-on-one in the second half. I think he was 1-4 from the field.

"We started getting out in transition a little bit, saw the ball go through the basket, started gaining some confidence. We obviously played a really, really good second half. I think it starts with our perimeter. Walt, Will and Alijah, senior leaders, guys that have been through the fire a little bit before.

"Great players with really, really a high level of confidence. They just kind of breathe it into the rest of the team. The younger guys like Rueb and Condo and Tommy, Zel, they have no choice but to play with incredible intensity and urgency because of the tone that our perimeter sets."

On first five minutes of second half

"We were able to turn up our pressure a little bit defensively. Got them on their heels offensively. We started just guarding more physically in the paint, making it harder for them to put us in the basket. Got some clean rebounds out in transition. They controlled the game in the first half.

"We stuck around and we were hanging in, but we kind of felt like we were getting knocked around a little bit. We controlled the game in the second half. I thought after the first two minutes of the second half we did that consistently. All three facets — defending, rebounding, taking care of the ball — that led to that run and victory."

On limiting Johni Broome in second half

"I think it was just a function of our bigs, just in our depth. He had a great first half. We didn't have anybody that could stop him. He was getting to his spots. We stayed the course. We didn't double him. They're too explosive defensively on the perimeter. They're going to get threes for Kelly, Pettiford, guys that are automatic knockdown shooters.

"I thought our depth, being able to get Rueben and Condo, sub early, bringing them back, I think we wore them down a little bit. It was kind of the function of the whole of our group that stepped up and was able to kind of change that defensive effort in the second half."

How it feels to be one win away from winning a national championship

"It's pretty incredible, man, you know? We worked pretty hard to get here. In three years, been fortunate to build a great staff that is aligned, that works really hard for each other. Then we've just accumulated a great group of guys on our roster. It took a little bit to get all these pieces together. But to a man, they all pull the same direction. There's no unselfishness in our locker room.

"A guy like Walt gets asked all the questions, all the attention for a great effort like tonight, but there's no animosity there, no one concerned about that. These guys are just trying to win a championship. I'm proud of that, proud of what our program is. The strides that we've made over these past couple years."

On Florida winning and Billy Donovan getting in Hall of Fame

"Yeah, it's incredible. I actually saw Coach Donovan kind of behind our bench right before the second half started. I was thinking how amazing it was that he's here, a guy that is the face of Florida basketball, had such an amazing career in Gainesville, and obviously after. What he was able to do.

"He raised the bar pretty high at Florida. There's some pretty high expectations now because of what he was able to do in his time there. He deserves the honor of being a Hall of Fame coach. So that was pretty special.

"Then obviously us winning. It was funny 'cause I got in the locker room today, I looked at my phone, I had a text from my dad. It was a picture of him and Billy D's dad right next to each other on the bus on the way to the game. Pretty sweet. Pretty special moment.

"Those two have found their match. Neither of them can get enough words in when they're together (smiling)."

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Todd Golden talks after Florida's Final Four win over Auburn