Florida Basketball To Host Barry University in Exhibition Thursday

The seventh ranked Florida men’s basketball team will take the court on Thursday for a preseason exhibition against the Barry University Buccaneers at the O’Connell Center.

The Gators will have a whole new look as they will be without four returning starters from last season’s Final Four squad. Junior guard Michael Frazier II is the lone starter as he will look for an expanded role this year.

Gator coach Billy Donovan will be without the services of sophomore forward Chris Walker as he is serving a three game suspension for violating team rules. Junior Alex Murphy, a junior transfer from Duke, is ineligible to play until December due to NCAA eligibility rules.

Donovan alluded to have a three-guard starting lineup for Thursday consisting of Frazier, sophomore point guard Kasey Hill, and junior Eli Carter. Dorian Finney-Smith, reigning SEC Sixth Man of the Year, and transfer Michigan big man Jon Horford should round out the starting five.

Freshman forward Devin Robinson (ranked 23rd in Class of 2014 via the ESPN Recruiting Database) and fellow freshman Chris Chiozza (ranked 45th) are expected to see some minutes in the exhibition contest though Donovan did say that they both still adjusting to the learning curve.

“Going into about 10 days of practice, you can see a huge gap between (the freshmen) and the veteran guys,” said Donovan, who is going into his 19th season at the helm for the Gators. “How much ground they can make up will be important for what kind of role they can play.”

Donovan has pointed out early that his squad has yet to go through major adversity. Last year’s Gator basketball team experienced the most successful regular season in program history, a year that included an undefeated home and conference record, SEC regular season and tournament championships, a 30-game win streak, and a trip to the Final Four.

With this year’s team, Donovan has been quick to point out that it will take a while to work out the kinks of having a young squad that hasn’t shared many minutes on the floor together.

“We work really hard,” said coach Donovan. “We got pretty good chemistry, I think we’re unselfish as a team, but we right now are not convicted or committed to anything and that’s not a good recipe. Their attitude has been good but we are not good. The only thing I say we’re good at right now is that we’re unselfish.”

Tipoff from the O’Dome is set for 7:00 p.m.