The injury bug has hit Florida hard this season. It lost star center Colin Castleton for six games with a shoulder injury during the month of January, and his replacement in Jason Jitoboh is now out for the season after suffering an eye injury requiring surgery in the road loss to Tennessee.
The Gators now have another injury to a key player, as starting point guard Tyree Appleby exited the game against Kentucky on Saturday less than seven minutes in after colliding with Sahvir Wheeler. He reaggravated a thigh bruise on the play and was ruled questionable to return.
Though he did briefly reenter the game to start the second half, he had to leave and didn’t return as he was held scoreless for the first time since his sophomore season at Cleveland State. After the game, coach Mike White updated his status moving forward.
“It was tough,” White said of losing Appleby, per On3’s Zach Abolverdi. “He reaggravated an injury that occurred in the not so distant past. In terms of what he said at halftime, Duke Werner deals with all of that. He just tells us at the end of the day who is available and how guys feel.
“He thought he could give it a go, but obviously, he wasn’t himself. You hate it for Ty. He’s really played well as of late, especially down the stretch in some of these wins that we’ve had.”
Castleton said the team struggled to retain its defensive intensity without Appleby on the floor.
“He’s one of the toughest dudes I’ve ever played with, so I already knew he was going to try and play. But he obviously couldn’t really go with his injury,” Castleton said. “I feel like we started getting good stops (after Appleby’s injury), but in the second half, we just completely fell apart and didn’t do everything we were supposed to.”
Florida is one game into a difficult four-game stretch that will likely determine its postseason fate. The next game — a road bout with Texas A&M — is likely squarely in the “must-win” category, and the Gators may have to do it without their most consistent backcourt player, as Appleby’s status for that one is to be determined.
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