Will Yeguete could only watch from the sidelines as the Gators fell to No. 4 Ohio State on Tuesday.
Against North Carolina A&T (1-3) he took on a slightly more active role.
The freshman played 23 minutes, scored seven points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds as the No. 9 Gators (2-1) cruised to a 105-55 win Thursday in the O’Connell Center.
“I was fresh because I didn’t play, obviously, so I was ready to go,” Yeguete said. “I was really excited about playing today, so that helped a lot.”
Yeguete’s 15 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end, were just six shy of Eugene McDowell’s freshman record from 1982.
Yeguete was an energetic presence on the court all night, aggressively crashing the boards and diving after loose balls.
“Anytime I get on the court I bring some energy and try to make the team better,” Yeguete said.
This full-throttle effort made Yeguete the talk of the first week of practice, so his rebounding outburst came as no surprise to his coaches and teammates.
Coach Billy Donovan has been praising Yeguete’s hustle, physicality and nose for the ball from day one, and the freshman put all of those attributes on display Thursday.
“This is not surprising to me,” Donovan said. “He is going to be a terrific player because he is a guy that embraces the dirty work, and there’s not a lot of guys that understand the impact that has on winning.”
One of the major factors that cost Florida against Ohio State was turnovers, as the team totaled 18 against an OSU squad willing to sit back and play half-court defense.
Gators point guards Scottie Wilbekin and Erving Walker put together a bounce-back performance against A&T, combining for 12 assists and no turnovers in 51 minutes against a pressing defense.
“They were probably down a little bit from last game because of the amount of turnovers that we, as a team, created,” sophomore guard Kenny Boynton said. “I think this gives them good confidence heading into next game.”
The ball distribution of Walker and Wilbekin led to eight Gators scoring in double figures, led by Boynton and Chandler Parsons with 16 points a piece.
Each of those eight players shot 50 percent or better from the field, and the team as a whole shot 57.5 percent for the game.
“That’s what we are: we’re a deep team, we’re an unselfish team,” Parsons said. “We’re just trying to get the best available shot. We’re going to have nobody trying to go out and get 30. We’re going to try to distribute the ball and play unselfish.”
