Colin Castleton dealing with illness as Gators try to find more offense
On the same day he earned All-SEC honors for the second straight season, Florida forward Colin Castleton missed practice Tuesday with an illness.
For the past month, Castleton has been playing through a shoulder injury that sidelined him for six games. He’s now dealing with a second issue, UF coach Mike White revealed before traveling with his team to Tampa for the SEC Tournament.
“Gotta get Colin healthy. Colin didn’t go today,” White said Tuesday. “Dealing with an illness, but great opportunities ahead of us. Anything can happen in these type environments, settings, conference tournament time. We’re excited to get down there.”
The Gators (19-12) open SEC Tournament action Thursday at noon against Texas A&M (20-11). The game will be televised on SEC Network.
If Castleton can’t play, it would be his first game missed since Missouri on Feb. 2. UF went 4-2 with him out of the starting lineup this season.
Castleton has turned in some of his best performances since returning from injury, including a career-high 29 points against Arkansas and his second 20-10 game in the regular season finale vs. Kentucky.
White is hopeful that Castleton can return to practice Wednesday and expects him to play Thursday against the Aggies.
“Just knowing Colin as well as I do, if he can drag himself out there on that court that’s what he’ll do. He’s dealing with a shoulder issue. At the same time, he’s played through illnesses and injuries for two years. He’s incredibly physically tough in that regard,” White said.
“He’s had a really good run. Continues to improve. Hopefully he’s got a bunch more basketball ahead of him here in this season. I know he’ll leave it out there on the floor and hopefully tomorrow he can get after it a little bit.”
In Florida’s 56-55 loss at Texas A&M on Feb. 15, Castleton joined Udonis Haslem, Al Horford and Marreese Speights as the only Gators since 1996 with multiple 15-point, 15-rebound games.
The Aggies trailed by two points with 19 seconds left before UF fouled on a 3-point shot, leading to the loss. Castleton admitted Tuesday that the A&M game has stuck him because he feels like the Gators let that one get away.
“Yeah, 100 percent. I think we should have won that game. It just didn’t play out the way it should have,” Castleton said. “I feel like we’ve studied them and we’re ready for the opportunity.
“We just gotta do what we’re supposed to. At the end of the day, that’s what it boils to. We gotta just bring our A game. It’s win or go home.”
The Gators had their worst shooting performance of the season in College Station, making just 17 of 59 field goal attempts (.288). They had another off day against Kentucky, shooting a season-low 13 percent from beyond the arc (3-for-23).
Florida must find more offense Thursday against the Aggies and shoot the ball better overall. After missing two games with an ankle injury, Anthony Duruji returned to the starting lineup on Saturday and scored in double figures (10 points) for the first time since Feb. 2.
However, CJ Felder continues to miss practice time and played just one minute vs. the Wildcats.
“Anthony Duruji has not practiced much in the past month. CJ Felder has not practiced at all, dealing with a hip injury. They’re some of our better 2-point scorers,” White said Tuesday. “So, we’re pretty one-dimensional at times. We can be. It’s either Colin or an open 3. It is what it is.
“App[leby], a couple of these guards may be able to draw some fouls on some ball screens. But, and I don’t think I’m surprising Texas A&M’s staff, we’re not — outside of Colin Castleton — a great 2-point scoring basketball team. Certainly working on becoming better, though.”
