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Florida coach Todd Golden and players Will Richard and Alijah Martin after win over #UNC
Dec 18, 2024
Florida coach Todd Golden and players Will Richard and Alijah Martin after win over #UNC
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a great first half uh really got out and
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set the tone I thought will was amazing
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in the first half was a whole game but
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really in the first half getting us
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going offensively and U you know I think
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we were up 17 and just really playing
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great basketball and you know obviously
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you play a team like Carolina you know
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they're not going away easy uh they cut
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it to 12 at halftime I I was not pleased
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with the way we performed coming out at
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halftime that's really the first time
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all year uh where we've allowed a team
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to dictate the terms uh you know of the
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game credit to them though thought they
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were really a lot more aggressive
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defensively and then trying to get
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downhill driving the ball in the second
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half and um you know to their credit
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they made it a great game and uh the
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thing I'm most proud of our group four
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minutes ago in the game down four and
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our in our huddle uh I saw no uh
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disappointment I saw nobody pointing
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fingers I saw guys that were poised and
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ready to attack the last four minutes uh
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just defending rebound and take care of
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the ball and I think we held him score
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last scor this the last two minutes I
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think we out rebounded him 8 to one down
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the stretch Big Time offensive rebounds
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that allowed us to get you know an and
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one and then get two free throws to ice
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it down the stretch and uh you know
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these are the type of wins you know to
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be honest we haven't had a game like
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this yet we've uh won every game before
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this by double figures and uh so to be
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able to push through in a game where we
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trailed uh back and forth in the second
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half I think is obviously great for us
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and we'll help compare us for SEC play
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okay questions for Elijah and will raise
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your hand we'll get you as many as we
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can right there will and Elijah would
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you guys rather win a game like this
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this kind of environment the way you do
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wi definitely um in these type of
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environments you you get the best out of
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everybody so um like on our team you can
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see the best out of everybody and you
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see what um type of leadership you have
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um and you know they that gives you
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confidence to get to go down and stretch
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of season um to to get it out out of the
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mud well I'm not going to lie IID much
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rather win by a good
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amount me too
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we know we know the rest of the season
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is going to be easy and stuff like that
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and know it's definitely preparing us
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for conference and just the rest of the
2:08
games we got coming up so um definitely
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good to face a little
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adversity yeah well men the offensive
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rebounds late in the game you had long
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game tied 79 all what did you see on
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that play being able to come down with
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the offensive rebound then offive back
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um yeah just just trying to be
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aggressive make a play um you know we uh
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we're obviously tied so just trying to
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be aggressive and then uh once I got
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offensive rebound trying to get a good
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position and then just go finish
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off well move your mic a little bit you
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perfect okay yeah Elijah you're down
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three you're one for 10 from the
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three-point line and you take that three
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and ti ti the game is that just the
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mentality where you're you're open it's
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going to go through eventually what
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unwavering
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Faith believe and dependent on the
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Lord seriously yeah just just stand
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confidence myself you know um I work my
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I work my butt off um and big time
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player my Big Time
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Players Elijah you um all three of you
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made you will W made huge plays down the
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stretch but can you talk a little about
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about a younger guy Tommy Hal I I don't
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know if I've seen a guy go plus 22 in 20
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minutes against North Carolina before
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man
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Tommy that's that's that's really a
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backbone right there he comes in brings
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his SP um unbelievable Talent
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unbelievable character great guy I just
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I just I I love when he signs second for
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the players I mean this is in North
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Carolina they've they've won both their
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games previously in this event um seems
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like you guys had a good following from
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Gator fans tonight too but what did it
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feel like to to come to their state and
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win this game uh it felt really good I
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mean we knew coming in it was going to
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be a r game for us uh just cuz of being
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so close to
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their camps and stuff like that but it's
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it definitely feels good to come in and
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get a roll wi like
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this yeah like you said we knew was
4:07
coming into um and just to see that we
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can still um Prevail you know going
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through something like that um just give
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us the most confidence going through the
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rest of the
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season BR yeah both as well again coach
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mentioned how they came out the second
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half much more aggressive defens what
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was it like adjusting to that than
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having you guys sort of counteract
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yeah I would just say um just settling
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down and getting back to what we were
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doing in the first half um they
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definitely tried to pick up the pace a
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little bit pick up the pressure but
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first is just getting back to us and
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just doing what we do to uh get
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ourselves back in the game get back in
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the rhythm of the game um it came out
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with um urgency and we had to match that
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and surpass it just to come towards
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tonight um but we just cannot we can't
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come out s like that ever again put
4:55
oured second row to 11 Todd what did you
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guys make up when you're getting ready
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for this in game prep you See's been
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struggling to shoot the ball from
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outside like what did you all just sort
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of make of that how how they haven't
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been able to make shots these are guys
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that are good players like you did you
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think in just your your study of it it's
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maybe a confidence
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issue let's let's play two play any
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other questions for Will and
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elij they're
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done my bad on that all right
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honestly you know this uh they're
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they're a very good offensive team you
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know I think uh obviously RJ is a very
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good score and uh our our game plan
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truthfully was to do a good job sticking
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to their Shooters um not allow you know
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Trimble who shot the ball well this year
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Tyson who's playing more now uh Jackson
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Off the Bench you know let those guys
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get going at all uh we wanted to make RJ
5:54
and uh Elliot beat us you know from two
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over us at The Rim you know I I did not
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not think we did a very good job when we
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got in Swit situations keeping those
6:03
guys left clearly RJ had a ridiculous
6:05
second half a lot of that was our
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inability to keep him from getting
6:09
downhill going right you know honestly I
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think in the first half they probably
6:12
missed some looks that they should have
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knocked down or you know have the
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capacity to do that I thought we were
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better guarding the line in the second
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half but um you know I think it's
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probably just a matter of time you know
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before RJ start shooting the ball better
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you know we had a big night against us
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tonight not really necessarily from
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three but getting to the line finished
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really well I think looks like for eight
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from two which is disappointing uh for
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us defensively but um you know I feel
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like they are you know getting VIN Allen
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in there playing uh Tyson a little more
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they're getting a little more
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comfortable with their rotations and I
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expect them to continue to play really
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well moving
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forward all right so it's like you guys
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are second highest rated starting lineup
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right now on uh Evan Maya I mentioned
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the three senior guards making huge
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plays un stretch Walter with the tip on
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The Late rebound who's number one Auburn
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yeah yeah um what what makes that core
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those core three guards so good and you
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know plays they made down the stretch
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talk about that a little bit yeah I mean
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they're all really really really good
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players um and I think the thing that's
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been great for us is that a they
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complement each other very well uh you
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know the way we play offensively we
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allow them all to play out of the ball
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screen obviously Walter is the the guy
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that's on the ball the most um but
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Elijah is playing in ball screens Will's
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playing in ball screens and um listen
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they're they're all three of those guys
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are seniors um they've all had great
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success individually in different ways
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uh I think Elijah has been really
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important to us because of his
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experience winning at FAU and playing in
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the final four uh and Walton will have
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just gotten super super confident as
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they've gotten older and they're both
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playing at an insanely high level right
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now Walton have his best game efficient
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see wise but as you all know he's played
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like an All-American all year uh and and
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you just feel a lot more conf and
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comfortable as a coach you know when you
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roll those three guys out there every
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night because you feel really good about
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winning the match up third
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R mentioned Reuben was able to get a
8:17
little bit in the second half how
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you I thought they were okay um you know
8:22
Ruben I thought gave us a lift
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defensively in some really big moments I
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I didn't think Alex had his best game
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but he was still really impactful in
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different ways
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uh Tommy as you know a Martin and will
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talked about you know he he just always
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finds a way to help you win and it's not
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always identifiable necessarily the box
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score um but to uh whoever talks about
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him being plus 22 in 20 minutes Neal
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that might have been you uh you know
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it's just insane I mean it's just really
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really hard to do and uh he just impacts
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winning in so many ways and you know Sam
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didn't have a you know he got in foul
8:53
trouble early you know he's been playing
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really well for us I you know he had a
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moment in the second half where he gave
8:57
us a lift but we expect team to play a
8:59
little bit better so you know the thing
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that we talked about as a staff right
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after the game is like we didn't get
9:05
best efforts from some of our you know
9:07
better players and we were still able to
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come in here and win and uh when you're
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able to find different ways to win like
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that it gives you hope in terms of what
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you're able to do the rest of the
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year um you mentioned you know wining
9:18
all your games by double digits what did
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you I guess what was your feeling in
9:23
that hudle what did you sense from the
9:24
players when you're down four late in
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the game um what was the feeling got
9:30
honestly it was you know it was just as
9:32
much about how I was feeling in and how
9:35
they were feeling you know I had to calm
9:36
myself down a little bit because I was a
9:38
little wired and disappointed with some
9:40
of the things we were doing but again
9:42
just looking up seeing four minutes left
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you know that's a lot of game man it's a
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lot of game left and uh you know we felt
9:49
like we had a really good group in there
9:51
and again just seeing the confidence
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level on my three seniors faces in the
9:54
back court and then seeing Tommy and
9:56
condo over there I'm like all right
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let's stay the course just kind of do
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what we do we got to get back to
10:01
defending get back to rebounding and
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takeing care of the ball and uh as I
10:05
mentioned earlier held him scor this
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last two and then out rebounded by seven
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in the last four minutes so our guys
10:10
answered the Bell on that last question
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I didn't want that last
10:19
foul than that he was amazing he gave a
10:22
lift when he really I thought he was
10:24
great um he's been playing really really
10:26
well you know him and Sam both got
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