With a freshman and a seasoned junior at the helm, No. 8 Florida (2-1) defeated Louisiana-Monroe (2-1) 61-56 on Friday night in overtime at the O’Connell Center.
Junior shooting guard Michael Frazier and freshman point guard Chris Chiozza led the Gators offensively against the Warhawks. Combined, the two scored 32 of Florida’s 61 points.
“I actually think it was really, really good for our team,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I don’t think we have any concept of what even goes into winning. We need this right now, and we get exposed.”
Just as Florida was set to regain some much-needed depth, another adjustment had to be made to the Gators’ lineup as junior guard Eli Carter was benched with a left foot injury he sustained in practice on Thursday. Carter was courtside on Friday, sporting a heavy-duty boot on his left leg.
Donovan said doctors are concerned about a possible Lisfranc injury or mid-foot sprain. Carter will have an MRI on Saturday to determine for sure which it is. In the best-case scenario, Carter would be back in eight to 10 days, Donovan said.
Carter joined junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith in the injured upperclassman category while sophomore forward Chris Walker returned for his first game back from suspension.
Finney-Smith’s absence could be longer than initially anticipated from hairline fractures in his left hand, from which he’s already been cleared to play.
“He needs to take care of his academics, he needs to focus on his school work and get that stuff done,” Donovan said. “So I told him that he needs to take a step way right now since he’s not playing and everything else and just take care of his school work and take care of what he needs to take care of.”
Finney-Smith was not on the bench for the first time this year. Donovan said he won’t be at games and practices for the time being.
“We’ll see how he does in school,” Donovan said.
Though the trend so far has shown a weakened second-half defense from Florida, the Gators struggled offensively throughout the entire game. Florida field goal percentage was 32.7 and Louisiana-Monroe was right there with them with 32.8 percent.
“I knew (Friday) we were going to struggle scoring, Donovan said. “You can’t take our two leading scorers off the score and expect us to put up a lot of points.”
But freshmen came through in the absence of those few key leaders.
A 3-point shot at the buzzer of the first half from Chiozza ended a 10-point run that put Florida within three points of Louisiana-Monroe. Chiozza was celebrating his 19th birthday on Friday.
“I was just hoping Horford pass it to me because I know if I got it, I would hit it,” Chiozza said of the shot. “I was due for one.”
Florida showed up defensively for the second half, holding the Warhawks scoreless for a just under 8 minutes in the middle of the second half. In that time the Gators scored 15 points to regain the lead 44-38 at the 8:09 mark.
Tied at 51-51 with 14 seconds left on the clock. Three point shot from Warhawks’ sophomore guard Nick Coppola. Florida ball.
Florida’s final five minutes on Friday, played in overtime, proved just how lacking in depth the Gators are. At one point Florida played two walk-ons, a freshman and a transfer at the same time.
A free throw from Frazier solidified Florida’s final five-point lead.
Florida’s victory counts as a preliminary round game in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, which the Gators will travel to on Monday.
“Right now, this will probably look like our team going to the Bahamas,” Donovan said.
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa
Junior shooting guard Michael Frazier II drives into the paint during Florida's 61-56 win against Louisiana-Monroe in the O'Connell Center.
