The Florida men’s basketball team is 3-4 going into tonight’s contest against Yale.
The Gators lost three games all of last season.
As Gator Nation realizes that this year’s team is not yet deserving of a preseason number seven ranking, Florida has an opportunity tonight to get a quality win against the Bulldogs (8-2).
“You just have to deal with the hand that you have,” Florida head coach Billy Donovan said on Sunday. “We’ve had a lot of different guys start… Jon Hoford had a bursa sac on his knee so he was in and out the other day – just kind of banged knees with somebody, and then we’ve had times where Chris (Walker) has kind of been in and out.”
Florida has used six different starting lineups in their past seven games. This is partly because junior guard Eli Carter has been in and out of the lineup after sustaining a sprained left foot in practice a few weeks ago.
Despite being given the ‘okay’ by medical staff, Donovan insists that Carter is out for tonight’s game.
“He’s cleared to play,” said Donovan on the status of Carter. “He’s just still having pain and the trainers are still trying to work with him. The doctors are still trying to work with him and figure it out.”
The Gators will miss his shooting services as they face a Yale squad that’s coming off a buzzer-beating 45-44 victory over UConn on Friday.
“They’re a very, very good team,” said Donovan on tonight’s opponent. “They’re experienced, they’re tough, they’ve been seasoned, they’ve been hardened. A lot of those kids had an opportunity to play as freshmen and sophomores and they’ve grown and gotten better.
The Bulldogs will be paced by senior guard Javier Duren (averaging 14.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.0 assists this year) and junior big man Justin Sears (14.8 points, 9.6 rebounds).
“They’re a really good team and this is an incredible challenge because this will be another 40 minute game for us,” Donovan added.
Tipoff tonight is set for 7:00 p.m.
Catch live radio coverage of the game on Country 103.7 The Gator starting at 6:25 p.m.
To listen to audio from the story above, click below:
Donovan on the different starting lineups he’s used this season