Florida basketball hosts the Merrimack Warriors inside the O'Connell Center on Friday night. Ahead of the Gators' fourth game of the 2026-27 campaign, head coach Todd Golden spoke with the press about his team's upcoming game.

Among the topics of discussion were his expectations against an overmatched opponent, as well as the status of point guard Boogie Fland, the experience of playing on the road as a No. 1 team against FSU, his competitive nature, Tennessee's mock CBA, NIL and player compensation, Slovenian forward Domen Petrovic and international players as a whole.

Below is a look at everything Golden told the media on Thursday before his team's matchup against Merrimack.

What Todd Golden wants to see out of Merrimack matchup

“Like any other game, we need to play really well. Our guys are mature enough to understand like we’re going to be heavy favorites against Merrimack, but that doesn’t change the way we approach the game. We’re going to be competing against Merrimack.

"I think they have a very difficult zone to play against. It’s unique. It bothered us here three years ago. We handled it better last year. Coach (Joe) Gallo is a great coach. I think one of the better coaches in America. He doesn’t get the notoriety he deserves because he’s at a smaller school right now, but he’s a guy that you get a little nervous about competing against because you know he’s going to have some stuff up his sleeve — and he’s not going to be afraid to do it.

"Other than that, it’s always about defending, rebounding, taking care of the ball. Like against the zone, we can’t have turnovers. We got to rebound. We got to hit. We got to be really good at the things that don’t require talent. I think those are kind of the main keys tomorrow night.”

On Boogie Fland’s status for the game

“He’s a little sore. Really pleased with his ability to come back. Obviously, the shoulder has been a little bit of an issue for him, but he and John Michelini got on the same page quick and we’re able to get him back in the game – and I thought he played great the rest of the way.

"So expect him to play tomorrow night. Expect him to play well. And we got to keep being mindful of making sure he’s at 100% through the rest of the season.”

Was going on the road as No. 1 eye-opening?

“I think it was within our expectation of what that environment might be like. Obviously, Florida State has some momentum right now. Luke is doing a great job. That was a big game for their program. … And we performed pretty well. Not at all perfect, but we did a lot of good things against a really good team that was definitely ready for that moment. So, I was deeply pleased, if not more, of our win at Florida State as I was at Miami.”

Where does Golden's competitiveness come from?

“Me? My mom gets a lot of credit for that. My dad was a basketball player and all those things, but I do think my mom is a lady that had a chip on her shoulder and wanted to prove what she’s capable of. Again, I look at my parents — and I’m fortunate to have them still and still spend time with them — and that competitive chip, I have to give my mom credit. I think that comes from her. But also the way I was raised, I think that was part of it too.”

On if his mom didn’t let him win

“She never let me off the hook. I think the accountability and things of that nature, growing up in that household. I grew up in a competitive family, and being something of an underdog growing up I had to prove myself. No different than when I got this job five years ago and you guys had no idea who I was and you were saying, ‘Who is this guy?’ I wanted to prove all you guys wrong.

"Especially Mark Long. I’m just joking. … But I want my teams to take on the competitive nature I have and my staff have. I think this group is very competitive and bring great effort.”

Has Golden ever seen an opposing fan blow a whistle?

“No”

Has Golden ever seen an opposing fan throw a beer can?

“No.”

On Tennessee coming out with a salary cap/CBA

“I don’t really understand how they would be able to do a CBA.”

On it being a mock CBA

“Yeah, I don’t get it because they’re not employees, and as far as I know, there’s no collective bargaining that can go on in this setting. There’s big picture-wise, there are solutions, but it would take a complete kind of reorg of what college athletics is right now, and I’m just not sure people are willing to do that.

"I think a lot of these ideas, collective bargaining caps, all these things are, in practice and theory makes sense, but how are we going to really execute that with the way the landscape is right now? We have to crawl before we run on the solutions. I think that’s something that’s way down the road, and we have to figure out how to solve the problems that we have now before we get to collective bargaining.

"We got to figure out: are these guys going to be employees? Are they not? And if they’re not, how are we going to continue to support them financially?”

Is Golden in favor of players getting guaranteed pay if injured, postseason bonuses?

“Yeah, I think it is. You know, but my thing is, there has to be equal kind of upside and downside risk. That’s what a partnership is. A collective bargaining agreement is when you bargain on two sides, people agree to the terms of the deal, you know, and if that’s what’s really important to student-athletes if we ever get to that stage, then yeah, like, I think that’s fair.

"But again, there has to be some protection in place for the schools and people that are paying the student-athletes as well. It can’t be — it used to be one-sided, way too far from the school’s perspective, where the student-athletes weren’t getting anything, and, you know, the schools were profiting.

"Fast forward to now, I think it’s really one-sided in terms of student-athletes’ opportunities to earn, to leave without, you know, being in place for more than one year. There’s a lot of factors that I do think are going to the side of the student- athlete right now, which, again, is great.

"But again, I think there should be some sort of middle ground where everybody can kind of get to where we want to get.”

Does Golden anticipate basketball players re-signing midseason like in football? Is he in favor?

“Yeah, I think we’d definitely be open and interested, you know, to getting guys locked in now for next year. We may or may not be working on that. You know, it’s one of those that we know what we want to get to next year.

"And I do think, you know, for certain guys or, you know, really all of our guys that want to be in our program, you know, that’s something that we would look into.”

How the Gators landed and evaluated Domen Petrovic

“Obviously a great player in Slovenia, his relationship with Urb(an Klavzar) was a big part of it. 
You know, Urb is a guy that I have a ton of respect for and trust and belief in, and talking to Urbie about Domen, he’s like, ‘Dude this guy’s awesome; he would fit the fabric of our program really well; he’s a really smart player; comes from a great family.’

"So before I met DP, like, he checked a lot of boxes for us. Obviously, being a little older, being mature, and having the skill set that he does, I think, was a great fit for a program. And, you know, he’s just a great dude. A good agent. You know, there’s a lot – great parents.

"You know, there’s a lot of things that made it a pretty, you know, what I considered a pretty easy fit for us and he agreed and now he’s here.”

Is it intentional to play Petrovic with Klavzar?

“No, not necessarily. Well, DP is like, he’s like, ‘I only want to play if Urbie’s out there, 
I’m like, ‘Dude you have to play with your American teammates also.’ No, it just kind of worked out that way, to be honest, but I kind of, I think it’s awesome.

"You know, they’re kind of checking into the game together right now.
I do like our frontcourt group of DP, Tommy and Condo. I think that, you know, we didn’t do that in exhibition season. We had done it last summer. DP started playing better in the fall, so we wanted to give him that opportunity, and I think he’s done a great job, along with Tommy and Condo, because our big issue is, as we discussed, was rebounding when Rueben was off the floor.

"DP's rebounded well; that group’s rebounded well. They’ve played really well offensively. You know, so he’s earned that role and that opportunity, you know, but having two really intelligent, skilled players coming into the game at the same time never hurts.”


What Golden would like to see Petrovic do better

“He knows the deal. Like I told him against Florida State, we can’t afford two turnovers. One I’m good with, but two in a short-minute span is not. That’s not what we need. I think he’s been awesome on the glass. He’s been elite, getting 50-50 balls. That was, no problem saying, a concern of ours with him in these big games against physical teams.

"The way he’s performed in the Miami game and the Florida State game give us even more confidence that he can answer the bell that way. Obviously, he changed the game with his shooting. That’s something that other teams have to be really mindful of when he steps on the court.

"And an underrated part of his game: he’s a really good playmaker; he’s a great passer. You look at the play in the game on Tuesday night against Florida State, but when he gets the ball in front of their bench, he just skips it on the line right to Denzel’s shooting pocket, knocks down a 3. And then he drives the middle off the right wing, drops it to Ruben for a layup.

"I mean, he is six-eight-and-a-half, six-nine, making point guard plays out there. Having again that skill set, him playing with that level of confidence, it really raises the level of our team.”

On having seven international guys on the roster and using his own path to connect with them

“I played overseas for a couple years in Israel. At San Francisco, a big part of our success was international players. I think we had eight on our last team at San Francisco. And a big part of my conversation with Scott Stricklin and the administration here when I was interviewing was I wanted to do a good job in the state of Florida, up and down the East Coast, and then wanted to supplement our roster with international players.

"I felt like we would be able to get even better international players here than we did in San Francisco because of the level of school. But again, my job is to build the best team possible. We have 15 roster spots. My job isn’t to get the 15 most-talented players and just throw them in there and see what happens. I’m building a team, and I do think international players have a great understanding of team ball and concept and role allocation and all these things.

"So we really do try to take our time and put all these pieces together. But I do think my experience playing over there, as well as our experience recruiting internationally at San Francisco, is a big part of that.”

On St. Mary’s as well

“Yeah, we had a bunch of Aussies there for sure, and they have since started recruiting a lot of Europe as well.”