Florida Gators Coach Todd Golden Discusses Home Opener vs. Jacksonville and Miami Performance

Top-ranked Gators host Jacksonville in home opener with Miami blueprint in hand

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Stephen C. O’Connell Center will feel different Thursday night. Not just because the lights will be on for a regular-season game, but because No. 1 Florida is opening its home slate against Jacksonville University at 8 p.m. ET, a matchup that brings a familiar face back to town and a local program looking to make a statement against the nation’s top team. Head coach Todd Golden addressed the media Wednesday to break down what his squad showed in Monday’s win over Miami and what he expects from Jacksonville when they visit the O’Dome.

As 247sports.com reported, Golden framed the Jacksonville game as a homecoming of sorts. “Get a good Jacksonville Club in here,” he said. “Bring Coach Jordan Mincy back, you know, to Gainesville, spent a lot of time here with Coach White’s staff, and just a really good local team, you know, starting off the home season that way, but excited to get back into the O’Dome and a regular season matchup, for sure.”

Scouting a squad with limited tape

Golden’s staff faces a unique preparation challenge. Unlike Miami, which Florida faced twice in the preseason, Jacksonville played just one game before Thursday — a matchup against an undermatched club that offers little insight into how Jacksonville actually operates. “We don’t have as much on these guys to prepare as we did on Miami,” Golden acknowledged. “We had a couple of preseason games of Miami. We didn’t have anything on Jacksonville.”

Still, the Gators know what to expect in the backcourt. Golden pointed to the transfer point guard from Lafayette as a scoring threat who “can really score” and “does a good job making shots off the bounce.” He also highlighted Jamie Phillips, who “did a good job last year at Stetson as kind of a three-level scorer,” noting that Phillips “shot the ball well from 3, lived in the mid-range, can get to the rim.” The Jacksonville frontcourt features transfers with “some size, some bodies,” Golden said, adding that his team will need to adjust on the fly. “Their first game of the year, they played a club that was just probably a little undermatched, you know, so I’m not sure how much we can take from that.”

Learning from Miami’s zone

Monday’s 40-minute win over Miami wasn’t perfect, and Golden was candid about where his team slipped in the second half. Florida defended well for the full game and held its own on the glass against a strong rebounding team, but Miami’s zone look in the final 20 minutes disrupted the Gators’ offensive flow. “Second half I thought their zone bothered us a little bit,” Golden said. “We just weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be to attack that.”

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The issue wasn’t the zone itself — Golden described it as “kind of 1-2-2ish, lifting the guards, lifting the wings” — but rather Florida’s execution against it. “We got catches where we wanted. I just thought we weren’t very good about taking advantage of it,” he said. “We were a little stagnant.” Golden emphasized that his team is “prepared to play against man a lot more than we did against zone,” suggesting Miami threw a curveball specifically because Florida had shown more man-to-man looks in preparation. The coach’s message to his players was simple: against zone, “I just want us to get shots, get good shots, get them up on the rim.” He also noted that rebounding out of zone is difficult for opponents, so Florida needs to create second-chance opportunities. “We passed up on some decent looks and we were a little just disorganized that way,” he admitted. “We were probably somewhere in between. We gotta be better.”

Frontcourt depth emerging

With the season opener in the books, Golden is seeing contributions from his younger frontcourt players. When asked about development off the bench, he pointed to Aleksa Butajevas, Rui Petrovic, and the trio of Mikic, Lay Jones as players “doing a really good job.” Butajevas, who got a short run Monday before picking up an offensive foul, is “right there” and should see more opportunity Thursday. “I think him and Meek and Jones specifically, kind of our younger front court guys, are doing a really good job,” Golden said. “Expect him to get a little bit of opportunity tomorrow.”

Golden also praised Domen Petrovic’s performance against Miami, particularly his defensive execution. “He did a really good job of executing our game plan,” Golden said. While acknowledging that Miami’s Shelton Henderson is “a better athlete” and “much stronger,” Golden emphasized Petrovic’s intelligence and toughness. “DP’s smart, man. He’s tough and I give him a lot of credit because he stepped up to the challenge in his first game over here.” The coach noted that Petrovic “looked more confident on Monday night than he had in the preseason,” a sign that “gave our staff and our program a lot of confidence in him moving forward.”

Building belief after last year’s stumble

Florida’s 2025-26 campaign began with a stark contrast to last season’s opener. This time a year ago, the Gators were coming off a loss to Arizona. Monday’s victory over Miami “gives the group a lot of belief in what we’re doing,” Golden said. “We talked about the exhibition season a lot. We just hadn’t played our best. So, for us to go out there and perform that way on Monday night… it just gave guys a lot of confidence in just continuing, knowing we have a lot of good players.” Golden believes Miami “is going to have a really, really good year,” which only amplifies the confidence boost for his squad.

Isaiah Brown’s performance stood out as a quiet but critical factor. His corner three in the first half was “probably fifth or sixth on the pecking order of the winning plays” he made, according to Golden. “I thought his physicality on the defensive end was awesome,” the coach said, citing Brown’s two fouls drawn fighting through screens and a “great tip dunk on the offensive end.” Golden kept it simple with his evaluation: Brown played 12 minutes and was plus-16. “If he continues to do that, he’ll continue to carve out more minutes for himself.”

Florida Gators Coach Todd Golden Discusses Home Opener vs. Jacksonville and Miami Performance

Backcourt chemistry and defensive standards

The connection between Boogie Fland and Denzel Aberdeen is developing quickly. “I feel great about it,” Golden said. “They are awesome together. They are really unselfish. I think they have great chemistry.” While it will take time for them to be “completely on the same page,” Golden evaluates their relationship “less about the on court and more about how they are gelling, how they get along, whether they enjoy playing with each other and value the success of each other.”

Aberdeen’s defensive growth has been particularly notable. “He’s become a very good defender,” Golden said. “He was good when he was here, but he’s raised the bar for himself that way.” The coach challenged Aberdeen to communicate better off the ball since “he sees everything,” but praised his overall reacclimation to the program. “Even if he’s not making shots, he knows he has to guard or he’s not going to be playing,” Golden said. “He’s all about it.”

One defensive trend has Golden’s attention: in Florida’s first few games, the opposing guards have been the leading scorers each time. The staff is working to limit that production going forward, though Golden was still completing his thoughts on specific adjustments when the media session ended.

Thursday night will test whether Florida can carry Monday’s confidence into a home opener against a local rival with size in the frontcourt and scorers in the backcourt. For a team ranked No. 1 in the country, the measuring stick isn’t just winning — it’s how cleanly they handle the details that tripped them up against Miami’s zone.