Tyree Appleby reaggravates thigh bruise in Florida's loss at Kentucy
In addition to losing at Kentucky, Florida lost another player to injury Saturday — this time Tyree Appleby.
UF’s starting point guard left the game with 13:32 remaining in the first half. Kentucky’s Sahvir Wheeler was trying to fight through a screen when he collided with Appleby, who hit the floor grimacing in pain.
Gators coach Mike White and athletic trainer Duke Werner both came out to check on him. Appleby had to be helped off the court by Werner and barely put any pressure on his left leg.
He reaggravated a thigh bruise on the play and was ruled questionable to return.
“It was tough,” White said of losing Appleby. “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.”
Appleby briefly returned to start the second half, but couldn’t play through the injury and checked back out for good. He was limited to eight minutes and finished scoreless in a game for the first time since his sophomore season at Cleveland State (10 minutes played).
“He thought he could give it a go, but obviously, he wasn’t himself,” White said. “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.”
Appleby had scored in double figures for eight straight games prior to Saturday, including a season-high 21 points vs. Oklahoma State and 17-point performances against Mississippi State and Missouri.
The Gators trailed 20-6 when Appleby was injured, but rallied with a 15-2 run to make it a 22-21 game. They trailed 33-28 at the break with no Appleby, but Florida forward Colin Castleton expected him to try and return.
“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.”
UF has now lost a player to injury for the second time in its last three SEC road games, with center Jason Jitoboh suffering a season-ending eye injury at Tennessee. Castleton also missed six games in league play with a shoulder injury.
Appleby’s status is to be determined for Florida’s next game Tuesday at Texas A&M.
