'Remarkable' Return: Colin Castleton ignites comeback win in first game back

It wasn’t Colin Castleton’s team-high 17 points that impressed his coach most Saturday. 

Nor was it his seven rebounds, six in the second half and overtime against 7-foot Ole Miss center Nysier Brooks, the fourth-best rebounder in the SEC. 

“The performance — forget the points and rebounds,” White said of Castleton. “He’s plus-16, 34 minutes. I never could have imagined he would have played 34 minutes.” 

Castleton officially finished with a season-high 35 minutes in Florida’s 62-57 overtime win over Ole Miss, his first game in three weeks. He suffered a left shoulder injury in practice Jan. 18 and had missed the past six games. 

“I would be lying if I said it didn’t suck. It was definitely rough not being able to play out there, but I believed in my teammates,” said Castleton, whose Gators went 4-2 without him. “If somebody takes something you love away from you, it definitely hurts.” 

So did his shoulder. 

Castleton immediately began resting and rehabbing the injury, which had no definitive timeline. He took his recovery day-by-day and worked closely with UF men’s basketball trainer Duke Werner.

Over the past week, the possibility of Castleton’s return became a reality. 

“Just through individual workouts, being able to do certain things and my shoulder felt fine,” he said. “Building the strength up with Duke, our trainer, every day with rehab and he saw the progress I was making.”

Castleton said he and Werner felt like the Ole Miss game would be good timing to come back. Castleton added that he really wanted to play Wednesday at Missouri, but his conditioning wasn’t where it needed to be.

“It wouldn’t have been smart for me to do that,” he said. 

As the Gators traveled back from Missouri on Thursday, Werner made the trip easier on White by telling him he was going to let Castleton practice Friday and then evaluate how he felt.

It marked Castleton’s first time taking contact since his shoulder injury. 

“We went quick, so he didn’t get a ton of reps. He didn’t — in his one day of practice,” White said. 

Nonetheless, Castleton fared well enough Friday to be upgraded to a game-time decision. After going through pre-game warmups and meeting with Werner, he received the green light to play against the Rebels.

“It’s ‘go’ mode,” Castleton said of his reaction to being cleared. “You lock into a different mindset.” 

Colin Castleton provides second-half spark

When Castleton was announced in Florida’s starting lineup Saturday, the Rowdy Reptiles and fans inside the O’Dome went nuts. 

So, too, did his teammates as he stood up and high-fived them. 

“Our guys were fired up for him,” White said. 

Castleton would give the Gators a second-half spark after they trailed by nine at halftime. He scored the first basket after the break, made a steal for a fastbreak layup and then grabbed a rebound that set up a 3-pointer, cutting the deficit to 30-28. 

UF opened the second half with an 11-1 run, taking a 32-31 lead on a pair of free throws by Castleton.

“Colin got it going early second half,” White said. “Getting Colin going I think ignited us a little bit. I thought he did a good job vocally. He started feeling a little bit more into a rhythm. His body language changed, his confidence increased.”

His stamina decreased, however, and his legs eventually gave out. After Castleton made a go-ahead layup to put the Gators up 42-40, he collapsed on the floor with 6:00 to play. 

“I made a layup and then my leg just shot out. I couldn’t walk or move or nothing,” Castleton said. “That comes with it, I guess. I gotta keep ramping up the conditioning and just getting my body right to play those high-volume minutes.” 

He came over to the bench and chugged two yellow Gatorades while Werner worked on his cramp. After a couple minutes, Castleton gave the thumbs up and checked back into the game with 3:53 left. 

He came up big in overtime, making back-to-back buckets during Florida’s 9-0 run. Most importantly, he brought energy, played through pain and provided a post presence to contend with Brooks of Ole Miss. 

“It felt a little weird because I hadn’t played five-on-five contact in a while. Brooks is a big dude, but I don’t shy down from anybody,” Castleton said. “So, once I started getting in the zone I was like, ‘You know what? Don’t even worry about the shoulder. Just play basketball and do what you do.’ Obviously I’m a big person as well, so I know I’m not going to back down from anybody. I was just battling him as much as possible.” 

Castleton got the best of Brooks and won that battle despite three weeks out and just one practice before his first game back. White expected Castleton to tough it out and go hard, but not for a season-high 35 minutes at plus-16. 

“I think in the past three weeks he’s played a combined four minutes of full-court competition and that was [Friday] in practice, and it was half the intensity level of that. He was trying to get to the game without bumping anything. He was kind of walking on eggshells because he hasn’t done much,” White said. “So, again, what he did was remarkable.”