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Two key Florida players declared questionable for Battle 4 Atlantis

Angel Rodriguez ,Eli Carter,Manu Lecomte

Angel Rodriguez ,Eli Carter,Manu Lecomte

AP

Friday night a shorthanded Florida squad needed overtime to avoid an upset bid by ULM, and it’s safe to say that isn’t the way in which head coach Billy Donovan wanted to go into next week’s Battle 4 Atlantis. Saturday evening the school gave updates on the status of two key players they played last night’s game without, junior guard Eli Carter and junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith.

Finney-Smith also sat out the Gators’ home loss to Miami on Monday night after suffering two hairline fractures in his left (non-shooting) hand in Florida’s season-opening win over William & Mary. According to the Gainesville Sun, the school has announced that both players are questionable for the Battle 4 Atlantis with an MRI revealing that Carter’s injury is a mid-foot sprain.

Carter’s updated status is good news for Florida, as the MRI rules out a Lisfranc injury that was feared earlier in the week. As for Finney-Smith, his issues aren’t solely health-related according to Chris Harry of Gatorzone.com:

But Finney-Smith, who went for 15 points and five rebounds in the opener,, has some academic issues to clear up, according to Coach Billy Donovan, who told the 6-foot-8 standout to stay away from the team -- except for rehab with the trainers -- until his classroom issues were taken care of.

Florida opens Battle 4 Atlantis play with a game against Georgetown on Wednesday, and they could face either No. 3 Wisconsin or UAB on Thursday. Also among the teams in the event are No. 6 North Carolina and No. 19 Oklahoma.

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