Florida coach Billy Donovan will be paying closer attention to his team’s fall semester grades than usual, with the structure of UF’s lineup against Wake Forest Saturday depending on when the grades are posted.
Specifically, Duke transfer Alex Murphy’s participation in Saturday’s game rides on the timing of the release of his semester grades.
Murphy transferred to Florida last December and had to sit out a year due to NCAA rules. Donovan admits he has no control over the situation and is solely up to UF’s timing, but he remains confident that Murphy will be eligible to play against the Demon Deacons and beyond.
“I think we’re optimistic but I’m certainly not gonna get involved in that personally. That’s kind of more of our school and when grades and those things get posted,” Donovan said. “I would say by the time we leave tomorrow we should have a better idea if it’s possible for him to play.”
Murphy may not be the savior of Florida’s offense, but he will lend versatility to UF’s lineup as well as much needed depth for a team that is yet to play with its full compliment of players at full health all year.
In smaller lineups, the 6-foot-8 Murphy can contribute length. He also allows Florida to play big by sliding the slashing junior forward at the shooting guard spot.
Depending on the timing of Murphy’s grade release, it may be an 11th hour choice about whether he can play or not, but Donovan says he will be worked into the rotation even if the official word comes down from the school between morning shootaround Saturday and the scheduled 5 p.m. tipoff time.
“This week I’ve tried to put him in a little bit more to try to get him kind of caught up and up to speed and what he needs to do. And he’s a smart kid, Alex,” Donovan said. “He picks up things pretty quickly. So I’m not really worried about that. I would probably be a little bit more concerned if it was a player coming in that hasn’t been around, that hasn’t been practicing.”
Florida may be without guard Eli Carter Saturday, who is suffering from strep throat and did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. Carter is still battling a mid-foot sprain, and Donovan said his poor injury luck has harmed his consistency.
It’s been that kind of season for UF, with good news like the optimism surrounding Murphy’s status there comes the bad of Carter’s strep throat. UF’s second-leading scorer Dorian Finney-Smith is also still dealing with a hairline fracture in his left wrist. He was seen by reporters Thursday leaving with the Florida basketball facility wearing a brace on the wrist that restricts the movement of at least one finger on his left hand.
UF’s leading rebounder Jon Horford, who wears a bulky brace on his knee and has battled injuries in his past isn’t using the team’s lack of health as an explanation for the team’s sputtering 6-4 start though.
“It’s gonna give us a lot of options having everyone healthy, ready to go,” Horford said. “But like we’ve been saying, it’s not really an excuse, when we have enough regardless of who’s healthy, who’s ready to go, it’s not an excuse to not have success, and not play hard.”
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF
Coach Billy Donovan addresses media during the 2014 men's basketball team media day.
