After coming to UF a year ago as the No. 6 overall recruit, Sekou Bangoura Jr. has had to live up to high expectations. Now, in his second season as a Gator, he is showing why he was so highly regarded.
After a strong fall season in which he won the Lakewood Ranch Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic in his hometown of Bradenton, Bangoura is currently ranked No. 28 in the country.
The talented sophomore is improving at a rapid pace and has become considerably stronger since he has been at Florida, coach Andy Jackson said.
Bangoura reached the quarterfinals at the Southeastern Conference Indoors for the second time in his career over the weekend.
Although he lost badly to Tennessee’s John-Patrick Smith, Jackson said Smith successfully executed a tactic that Bangoura had not expected.
“(Smith) is a lefty with a very big serve and plays power tennis,” Jackson said. “(Smith) took a lot of pace off the ball and sort of baited Sekou into being the attacker. Unfortunately, Sekou took the bait and played tactically the wrong way.”
Despite the tough loss, Jackson remains encouraged that Bangoura can be one of the nation’s top 10 players, even saying it could happen sooner rather than later.
Bangoura’s development will be important to a Gators team that will lose its top player and only senior in Alexandre Lacroix after this season.
Lacroix, the No. 4 player in the country, was also eliminated in quarterfinals play at the SEC Indoors after enduring a physically demanding three-set match in the previous round.
“Sometimes excuses are true. This early in the season, Alex wasn’t physically ready to play his fourth match in two days,” Jackson said.
However, Jackson believes there is a good core group of players in Bangoura, sophomore Bob van Overbeek and junior Nassim Slilam, who can step into Lacroix’s shoes once he departs.
“We want all three to learn as much as possible from Alex and be able to replicate his success on and off the court,” he said.
