GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Last week, Florida coach
Todd Golden summed up the injury to sophomore guard and projected starter
Will Richard by saying the Gators
"dodged a bullet."
They dodged another one over the weekend.
Fifth-year senior point guard
Kyle Lofton, the marquee transfer from St. Bonaventure and slam-dunk starter, suffered a groin injury during practice Saturday. A mild one, thankfully, as it turned out. The 6-foot-3 Lofton, a four-year starter and 1,600-point scorer who also averaged 5.2 assists over his career with the Bonnies, is expected to be out of action seven to 10 days, according to trainer
Dave Werner.
"I thought it was going to be worse," Lofton said at practice Monday.
Lofton limped off the floor Saturday, finished the day in the training room and was back in there for treatment Sunday and Monday, as well. Was Golden worried?
"I was until I wasn't," answered Golden, who got the good news soon enough. "Anytime a guy goes down you're going to be concerned, but once I talked to Duke [Werner] I felt much better about it."
The Lofton injury occurred nine days after Richard, the 6-4 transfer from Belmont, slipped on a wet spot during a Sept. 22 workout and sprained his right knee. He will be out at least another week, maybe two, but is cleared to do shooting drills and some other light non-contact stuff. Richard averaged 12.2 points and 6.0 rebounds on his way to being named to the Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer team as a freshman.
Both Lofton and Richard watched Monday's practice in Exactech Arena, leaving a likely 40 percent of UF's projected starting lineup on the sidelines.
"I'd be more worried if they were both long-term injuries," Golden said, adding there are obvious benefits to other players getting first-unit reps. "Sometimes opportunity provides a platform for guys to prove themselves."
With Lofton out, junior
Trey Bonham, a transfer from Virginia Military Institute, got the bulk of first-group point guard reps, with some also going to freshman
Denzel Aberdeen. The situation with Richard is different, what with fifth-year senior
Myreon Jones, junior
Niels Lane, sophomore
Kowacie Reeves and freshman
Riley Kugel (Bonham also) all projected to be in the mix at the shooting guard and/or small forward positions.
The 6-5, 190-pound Kugel was really good Monday. So was LSU transfer
Alex Fudge, who bounced (and shot and dunked) between the "3" and "4" spots.
