Todd Golden Calls His Shot, Keeps Promise with Gators' Win Over Alabama

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Todd Golden was right.

Less than two weeks after his "We'll beat them anyway" quote regarding Alabama with controversial center Charles Bediako went viral, Golden and the Florida Gators held up their end of the bargain and then some.

The result? A 100-77 thrashing of the Crimson Tide, marking Alabama's worst loss of the season and Florida's fifth-straight win in the series.

"I was thinking about that a lot last night actually," Golden said after the win. "And as this was a big one-off ABC game, they were going to try to find different ways to stir it up. And, I thought when one of the Alabama beat writers talked to Nate (Oats) about it on Friday, I thought his response. We're very similar. He's like, ‘Yeah, I understand where he's coming from, like, he's trying to kick our ass and we’re going to try to kick his ass. I don't think that's news to anybody.’ But with that being said, yeah, absolutely."

Florida coach Todd Golden KNEW… pic.twitter.com/4T66wOSF1W
— Flaming Hot Takes (@TheyAlreadyKnew) February 1, 2026

Golden's comments began a back-and-forth between the two programs, mostly centered on Bediako, a multi-year NBA G League player who recently sued his way back to Alabama. Golden made it clear that while he understood why Oats added him back to the roster, he did not agree with it. Thomas Haugh said the decision was "definitely not right."

Oats argued that other teams, including Florida, have professionals from overseas on their rosters, so Bediako should be allowed to play. Golden and Haugh, and most of the college basketball world, disagreed.

Then there were comments from Oats about Florida's rebounding. While he praised the Gators as one of the top rebounding teams in the country, he also took a shot.

"And when you can sit in the lane for 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 seconds at a time, it helps your offensive rebounding quite a bit," he quipped.

Safe to say, like the final result, Golden got the last laugh.

Headlined by Rueben Chinyelu's 17 rebounds, which helped him clinch his 13th double-double of the season, Florida out-rebounded Alabama by 11 (44-33). The rebounding advantage was also a small part of dominance down low for the Gators, which out-scored the Crimson Tide, 72-26, in the paint.

"I thought our guys were in there for one second, two seconds, then we scored, so taking advantage of our catches down there," Golden said, echoing Oats' previous comments. "The bigs were really, really good today.”

Todd Golden fires back 😂😳

“72 points in the paint… And I thought our guys were in there for one second, two seconds…..” pic.twitter.com/AyL5FNcX1M
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) February 1, 2026

Chinyelu, who also drew the final foul that sent Bediako out of the game with two minutes left, did not fall into the drama both before and after the game.

"Nothing new. Same thing. Another player. Go out there and do what we do," he said when asked about the one-on-one battle with Bediako.

Florida now enters the final month of the regular season in second place of the SEC standings after its wins over Arkansas and Alabama, with conference contenders such as first-place Texas A&M, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas on the schedule. If Sunday's game was any indication, and if the "we'll beat them anyways" mindset continues, the sky is the limit for the Gators in 2026.

"That is the crazy part. We're scoring 100 and not playing our best basketball yet," Boogie Fland said. "So that is crazy. We still have more to grow, more room for improvement."

More From Florida Gators on SI