Scottie Wilbekin is back, and his return comes at a critical time for the ailing Gators.
No. 16 Florida was down to six healthy and available scholarship players before coach Billy Donovan reinstated Wilbekin on Sunday after he served a five-game suspension. Wilbekin, the starting point guard, will begin his senior season for the Gators (4-1) at Jacksonville (2-3) at 7 p.m. Monday.
He was suspended for undisclosed reasons in June and missed all of the team’s summer workouts. He did conditioning and drills individually as part of the process to earn his way back onto the team.
It was his second suspension in the past year — he missed the first three games of the 2012-13 season — but Donovan believes this one had a more substantial impact.
“No question,” he said. “He’s grown up in a lot of ways. He obviously made some poor choices last year, and you would hope that situation would’ve been an eye opener for him. For whatever reason, that experience of missing the first three games last year did not register with him at the level I wanted.
“With the situation we’ve put him in having to work his way back onto the team … the biggest thing I’ve noticed is a total change in his attitude. He has a much better understanding (of) how things he does impact not only himself, but other people. I really have seen great growth in him. I couldn’t be any prouder of him.”
Wilbekin scored 9.1 points and had five assists per game while shooting 45.3 percent and playing more minutes than anyone on the team last season. He was an SEC all-defense selection.
The Gators went with true freshman Kasey Hill at point guard in his absence until Hill suffered a high ankle sprain during last week’s win over Southern. He is out until at least mid-December.
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