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Florida Gators forward Aleks Szymczyk suffers injury in practice

On3 imageby: Zach Abolverdi09/01/23ZachAbolverdi

Florida’s lone returning forward suffered an injury in practice this week. Sophomore Aleks Szymczyk broke his left foot on Tuesday and will be sidelined for the next three months, according to Chris Harry of FloridaGators.com.

Szymczyk played in 14 games as a true freshman, averaged 2.1 points and 1.3 rebounds. His best performance was a season-high 8 points on 2-for-5 shooting from 3 in an 84-65 loss at Arkansas.

After making just seven appearances (for only 15 minutes) over the team’s first 26 games, “Shimmy” averaged 3.4 points and 2.3 rebounds over the final seven games following Colin Castleton’s injury.

Florida associate athletics director and trainer Dave “Duke” Werner projects that the recovery timeline for Szymczyk’s injury will be 12 weeks, according to Harry, which could put him back on the floor in late-November.

“You know what, there’s probably not a better attitude in our program than his. He’s just a light bulb and fountain,” Florida men’s basketball coach Todd Golden said of Szymczyk. “A guy that comes to work every day. And he’s pretty talented. Can really shoot, a guy that can stretch the floor for his position.

“I think his athleticism needs to continue to get better, but when he’s a guy that is a depth provider, you feel really good about your program. He’s gonna have the same opportunities as everybody else to earn and carve out a role and I wouldn’t put it past him to do it.”

With Szymczyk sidelined potentially for the start of the season, Golden and his staff will turn to a trio of front-court transfers in Marshall center Micah Handlogten (ranked 40th nationally in the On3 player rankings), Yale power forward EJ Jarvis (171st) and Seton Hall forward Tyrese Samuel (172nd), along with freshmen forwards Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh.

Florida Gators 2023-24 Nonconference Schedule

DateDayOpponentSeries
Nov. 6MondayLOYOLA MARYLAND0-0
Nov. 10Fridayvs. Virginia (Hall of Fame Series; Charlotte)2-1
Nov. 14TuesdayFLORIDA A&M12-0
Nov. 17FridayFLORIDA STATE45-29
Nov. 22WednesdayBaylor/Pitt/Oregon State (NIT Tip-Off; Brooklyn) 
Nov. 24FridayBaylor/Pitt/Oregon State (NIT Tip-Off; Brooklyn) 
Nov. 29Wednesdayat Wake Forest (ACC/SEC Challenge)7-5
Dec. 5TuesdayMERRIMACK0-0
Dec. 9Saturdayvs. Richmond (Orange Bowl Classic; Sunrise, Fla.)3-2
Dec. 14Thursdayvs. East Carolina (Lakeland)0-0
Dec. 19Tuesdayvs. Michigan (Jumpman Invitational; Charlotte)1-3
Dec. 22FridayGRAMBLING STATE0-0
Dec. 30SaturdayQUINNIPIAC0-0

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