Eric Musselman shares how Colin Castleton's injury impacts the Florida game

The injury bug showed no mercy to Florida this week with news that fifth-year forward Colin Castleton broke his hand. The Gators handled their business with a 15-point win over Ole Miss but, in the end, losing a piece as impactful as Castleton will have a major effect on what they’ll be projected to do the rest of the season.

Even so, Eric Musselman and Arkansas say they won’t be overlooking Florida even with this update. In his own postgame press conference on Wednesday, he said it’s an impact that’s going to allow other players, including out on the perimeter, to succeed on Todd Golden’s roster.

“It’s probably the same impact (we’ve felt). We’ve had (Trevon) Brazile out the whole year,” said Musselman. “If you look at injuries, it allows opportunities for other guys to play.”

“Florida played a really good last 15 minutes of the game today against Ole Miss. Todd Golden is a very good coach. They have a talented roster and so somebody else is going to get an opportunity,” Musselman said. “With their style of play in the second half, I thought they adjusted really well. They still have a big guy in (Jason Jitoboh) that’s a big, strong player. And they’ll have a little bit more from perimeter players on Saturday.”

Losing Castleton means Florida is immediately losing 16 points, 7.7 rebounds, and three blocks on 50% shooting from their lineup. Three years worth of veteran experience also went out for the Gators as they continue their late-season push.

As Musselman pointed out, though, they’ll now be forced to fill that production in by committee. That starts with the senior down low in Jitoboh who is about to see much more than his nine-minute per game average over the final five games. Florida will also be expanding the roles of Will Richard, Kyle Lofton, Kowacie Reeves, and Myreon Jones outside in order to make up for Castleton’s loss.

Losing your star this late in the game is, by all intents and purposes, a death blow for most teams. With that said, Musselman is going to make sure the Razorbacks are ready to roll this weekend in order to pick up a win that should be far more attainable now but won’t be if they simply disregard their opponent entirely.