Todd Golden compares playing Houston in San Antonio to SEC Tournament championship

It’s safe to say Florida will not have the crowd on its side Monday night in San Antonio when the Gators play Houston.

While UF proudly boasts that the Gator Nation is everywhere, the Cougars have a notable advantage in proximity for Monday’s game. The Alamodome is about 200 miles from UH campus. Getting to San Antonio from Florida is a flight for most people.

Ahead of the national championship game, Todd Golden noted that the Gators were in a similar situation not too long ago.

“We can draw a little experience from the SEC Tournament championship game,” Golden told reporters Sunday. “Obviously, playing Tennessee in Nashville. I probably took for granted what that environment would be like. We walked in there, and it was 80% Tennessee fans. I was like, ‘Man, we got a road game to try to win the SEC title.’ I anticipate it being somewhat like that tomorrow as well.”

Unlike the game in Knoxville, Florida was able to defeat Tennessee 86-77 in front of a pro-UT crowd to win the SEC Tournament title. Golden hopes to see his squad use the situation to play with an attitude.

“It’s just part of what you have to get through to win a national championship,” Golden said. “Houston is an amazing team. They deserve this opportunity. Obviously, they’re going to have some great momentum. They should have a lot of people here tomorrow night.

“For us, it allows us to add another chip on our shoulder and prove, try to prove, that we belong and that we can win in another hostile environment. It will be a bigger challenge because of that. It’s nothing that we haven’t seen before this year. We’ve been able to fight through it. I’m hopeful we will, as well, tomorrow night.”

Monday night’s game for the national championship is set for an 8:50 p.m. ET tipoff.

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.