UF coach Billy Donovan revealed Thursday that freshman power forward Allan Chaney will be out two to three weeks with a stress fracture in his left heel.
"He won't be able to practice or play in the game against Kentucky right now," Donovan said.
Donovan said the injury was disappointing and that Chaney had begun to work his way into the rotation in recent games.
"That's not good for us practicing and going forward because I really thought he was starting to do some good things, and he was starting to do some things in practice where I was gaining some more confidence and giving him some more minutes," Donovan said.
Chaney was averaging 3.1 points and 2.2 rebounds in a little more than 10 minutes of play per game this year.
"Hopefully, someone else in our frontcourt can step up and give us some more minutes," Donovan said.
The injury occurred during the first half of UF's 97-93 win against South Carolina on Tuesday night.
Chaney scored 2 points and dished out two assists against the Gamecocks.
"Now, with Allan being out, that eliminates a power forward for us the next couple of weeks," Donovan said. "So I think logically Ray (Shipman) getting some more minutes seems to be the next logical thing for us, and he's got to respond well here in practice the next three or four days."
Donovan also said that 6-foot-10 freshman Eloy Vargas could see more minutes while Chaney recovers.
The coach plans to use the time to experiment with different frontcourt lineups.
Don't be surprised if you see Dan Werner and Chandler Parsons together in on the block when UF plays Kentucky on Feb.10.
"There are times when playing Dan and Chandler together give us an edge offensively because we can kind of space the floor and those are two good ball handling and passing guys," Donovan said.
Though the combination of Werner and Parsons gives the Gators more offensive firepower, their inability to guard bigger, more athletic post players may be too much to overcome defensively.
"You give up a lot on the defensive end of the floor," Donovan said. "You play some zone to mask it, but you still have to rebound the ball."
Donovan has moved away from his traditional man-to-man defense in recent weeks in favor of a matchup zone that has helped the Gators camouflage their lack of defensive speed.
The coach said he has also tinkered with the idea of playing center Alex Tyus alongside Kenny Kadji.
"You rebound the ball better, but maybe you're not quite the scoring team you could be," Donovan said. "Doing some unconventional things with the lineup is something that could possibly help us."
ALLEN DONE FOR SEASON: Sophomore Adam Allen is now officially done for the year.
Allen was hopeful that he may have been able to recover from the knee injury that has sidelined him this season in time to make it back on the floor this year, but Donovan said Thursday that Allen will be taking a medical redshirt.
"He is definitely, for sure, not playing this year," Donovan said.
