A depleted Florida basketball team caught a break on Saturday, when an MRI confirmed junior guard Eli Carter sustained a mid-foot sprain rather than a Lisfranc injury in practice on Thursday.
The diagnosis for Carter comes with a sigh of relief for coach Billy Donovan and the already-shorthanded Gators.
The team originally feared Carter’s season could possibly be over if he were diagnosed with a Lisfranc injury, but the team found solace in the fact that Carter can be cleared to return in eight-to-10 days.
In an email from the University of Florida Athletic Association, team media confirmed Carter is questionable for UF’s upcoming games in the Bahamas in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Gators leave today for Nassau.
Junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who injured his left hand against William & Mary, is also questionable for the Battle 4 Atlantis. After the Gators defeated Louisiana-Monroe 61-56 in overtime on Friday, Donovan alluded to issues Finney-Smith is currently facing, aside from the hairline fractures that have held him out the past two games.
"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 away 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."
Though Florida managed without the experience of both Carter and Finney-Smith on Friday, Donovan knows he needs players like senior forward Jacob Kurtz and sophomore forward Chris Walker to continue to step up.
Kurtz said he couldn’t remember a time he grabbed as many rebounds as he had on Friday. The walk-on led both teams in rebounding, pulling down 13 boards.
"Some of them I was fortunate they just fell into my hands, so I’m just trying to do my job," Kurtz said.
Along with his career-high in rebounds, Kurtz started the game and played for 36 minutes, tying a career-high in minutes that he set just one game earlier against Miami.
Overall, Kurtz said he was happy with the win, but he too can see areas for improvement.
"We had a couple key breakdowns on defense, three-point line really hurt us," Kurtz said. "We’ve got a long way to go."
The Gators know improving from the three-point line is critical to the team’s success.
Florida was 3-for-15 on three-point shots while the Warhawks were 9-for-25.
In his season debut, Walker tied his career-high in rebounds with six and also added four points in 26 minutes played. But Donovan said he was most impressed by Walker’s maturity.
"I thought he played hard and played with energy," Donovan said. "He wouldn’t have looked like that last year. He’s really come a long way and done a great job."
Center Jon Horford said he noticed a difference with Walker back on the court from his three game suspension.
"He’s so active and he gets rebounds, you know, he’ll block shots. And he’s such a presence, like even him being there guys hesitate to go in there because they know that he’s so long and so athletic, so he makes a big difference on the game," Horford said. "Chris is just going to keep getting better all year, I’m excited for him."
Meanwhile, Donovan acknowledges some players, like Kasey Hill, still have a long way to go. Donovan said he needs to "find a way to help" the sophomore guard.
Hill missed the only three-point shot he took on Friday and missed 10 of the 12 field goals overall, but was 4-for-6 from the charity stripe.
"He’s got to make better choices and better decisions. I was really disappointed with him and Chris Chiozza, our two point guards," Donovan said. "With limited offense on the floor, both those guys turned it over a combined 9 times. They have to do a better job than that."
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Eli Carter goes for a layup during Florida's loss to Miami on Monday in the O'Connell Center.
