Micah Handlogten rejoining the team a ‘big lift’ for Florida Gators
INDIANAPOLIS — The 7-seed Gators were down a player when the team took the floor Thursday for their shootaround in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where they will take on No. 10 seed Colorado on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
As players warmed up, Florida director of photography Maddie Washburn had an extra photographer taking shots from the bench area: Micah Handlogten. He rejoined the team on Wednesday following his season-ending leg injury.
Handlogten had a two-hour surgery after the SEC Championship and spent two days in Nashville recovering. He and his parents, Benjamin and Danielle, then made the four-hour drive to Indy to be part of UF’s first tournament since 2021.
“Obviously excited to be here. Got in yesterday,” Gators coach Todd Golden said Thursday. “Feel like the guys are ready to go. Had a good little run at the SEC tournament last week. Dealing with some adversity obviously without Micah, but he’s back with us, which was a big lift for our guys yesterday.
“To be able to see him and see his positive spirit, I felt like that gave us a little juice and we had a good practice yesterday before we left. Excited to get on the floor here today and get ready to compete against Colorado tomorrow.”
Handlogten will be missed on the glass by the Gators. The 7-foot-1 center ranks fifth in the with an offensive rebounding percentage of 17.8%. He has helped Florida rank No. 2 nationally in rebounds per game (42.69) and No. 3 in offensive rebounds per game (14.77).
The Buffaloes are also a force on the boards, led by 6-foot-11 center Eddie Lampkin Jr. with 7.1 rebounds per game. Colorado and Florida rank 19th and 20th, respectively, in rebounding margin. Golden said the Buffs have more size than what the Gators see on a regular basis.
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“Obviously it’s a variable that we have to deal with, but the great thing is our depth in the frontcourt has been a big positive for us all year,” Golden said. “We’ll start Alex Condon tomorrow next to Tyrese [Samuel], and Thomas [Haugh] will get minutes, and we’ll probably show small-ball lineups tomorrow, as well, just to make sure we have enough depth to survive out there all game. Next-man-up mentality, and I think Aleks [Szymczyk] will be ready to go for sure.”
Condon will become the first Gator to make his first career start in the NCAA Tournament. The SEC All-Freshman big man leads the league’s freshmen in rebounding (6.3) and blocked shots (43).
Haugh scored 11 points and played 25 minutes in the loss to Auburn, marking his most production and playing time since his career-high 17 points in 26 minutes played in the win at Georgia.
“Trying to stay consistent and keep our size out there early on, we wanted to get Condo next to Tyrese, especially for that matchup and their size,” Golden said. “But Tommy could have handled it and all three of those guys will play a lot of minutes tomorrow.”
