High-ankle sprain for Florida PG Scottie Wilbekin

By Adam Silverstein
December 3, 2013

The Florida Gators announced Tuesday that while X-rays on his injured right ankle came back negative, senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin will be sidelined indefinitely with a high-ankle sprain he suffered in the closing minutes of Florida’s 65-64 loss to UConn on Monday night in Storrs, CT.

Wilbekin, who missed the first five games of the regular season due to suspension, has only played in three contests this season but nevertheless led the Gators with averages of 35.7 minutes and 5.7 assists per game, both career-highs. He was also averaging a career-best 11.3 points per contest despite shooting just 37.1 percent from the field.

This latest injury leaves Florida without a healthy point guard on its roster. Freshman sensation Kasey Hill, who started the Gators’ first four games, suffered a high-ankle sprain of his own on Nov. 18 against Southern and was ruled out for a month.

Wilbekin was not given a timetable for his injury, and it certainly did not look as serious on film as Hill’s appeared to be two weeks ago. The school also announced after Monday’s game that Wilbekin left the arena without the use of a boot or crutches, while Hill had a boot on his foot for an entire week following his injury.

With Florida not playing for seven more days – No. 6 Kansas comes to town on Dec. 10 – it would be unwise to rule out either Wilbekin or Hill for the Gators’ next contest.

Head coach Billy Donovan and Florida’s trainers are notorious for exaggerating the severity of injuries – or at least placing extra-long timetables on recovery.

Wilbekin was also seen at his brother’s high school basketball game walking without a limp. Hill is set to begin participating in individual drills this week.

Should neither Wilbekin nor Hill suit up next Tuesday, the Gators will only have six scholarship players healthy enough to see the court assuming sophomore guard DeVon Walker (sprained foot) is recovered in time.

Junior G Eli Carter is still recovering from a broken fibula he suffered last February and has been designated as a redshirt candidate. Sophomore G Dillon Grahahm underwent season-ending surgery to alleviate pain due to bone spurs in his hips and will also take a redshirt. Redshirt junior center Damontre Harris is currently off the team and trying to work his way back from a variety of issues.

5 Comments

  1. gatorboi352 says:

    Sweet! Looks like the injury curse didn’t stop at the football facilities! Kansas is going to route us.

    FML

    • Ryan says:

      I believe Scotty will play as well.. maybe even Kasey Hill.. and Kansas WILL NOT route us. I watched this Kansas team and they have plenty of flaws and Andrew Wiggins isn’t the next Lebron James. It will be a good game and will go down to the wire.

  2. calgator says:

    If I am a UF baseball player I might go ahead and sit out the season just to be safe.

  3. Ken (CA) says:

    wow…how unlucky. What is the difference between a sprained ankle and a high ankle sprain other than time of recovery? High ankle sprain seems to be a relatively new term used in past 10 years to indicate someone who would be out for 4-6 weeks rather than a few days or so with a sprained ankle.

    The only good thing about this is BB doesn’t rely on polls, and committee will take into consideration injuries and suspensions and who the team is when they make the selection, and if lose the next couple against Memphis and KU with severely depleted squad, but blow through the SEC with Walker and Hill and full squad, that will impact us very positively.

    • Completely different injury. High-ankle is actually the lower leg, it’s a tearing of ligaments that connect the leg to the ankle.

      Despite what Florida said, I do not believe this to be true about Wilbekin. I think he plays vs. Kansas.

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