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Thursday, December 19, 2024

When things go bad, just go bald.

If you missed Saturday's game against Vanderbilt, ready yourself for a Dan Werner you haven't seen before.

Looking to reverse his poor shooting, Werner decided to go bald in hopes that removing his hair would rid him of his troubles.

"I had to change something," Werner said. "So I started with my hair."

The new 'do didn't help.

Against the Commodores, Werner shot just 4 of 11 from the field, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range. He is shooting just 26.1 percent from beyond the arc this season.

Werner admitted after the game his plan didn't work. Unfortunately for Werner, his bag of tricks has run out.

"That was plan A," he said. "I don't have a plan B."

Werner's decision to go smooth came as a surprise to his teammates.

Freshman Chandler Parsons was rooming with him at the time and was shocked when he saw the transformation.

"He came out of the bathroom and I said, 'Oh my gosh,'" Parsons said. "I was just like, 'Wow, what did you do? Hopefully, you got some money for that.'"

Parsons said Werner used a "Con Air"-like hair trimmer to initially cut his hair before putting shaving cream on his head and using a disposable razor to finish the job.

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"Coach has been talking about change and how we need to change," Parsons said. "That guy took change to another level."

The rest of Werner's teammates had trouble holding back their laughter.

At first, guard Nick Calathes said he wasn't sure what to do, but then he figured there was only one thing he could.

"I had to feel it, because I didn't know what it would feel like," Calathes said. "It didn't look that bad, to be honest with you. I think it would look a lot worse on me."

How effective this stunt will be for Werner remains unknown. Yet regardless of how odd it seems, the message behind the cut is worth taking into consideration.

The Gators (19-7, 6-5 Southeastern Conference) have lost four of their last five games and are in need of a drastic change. When UF hosts South Carolina (12-12, 4-6 SEC) Wednesday at 8, the Gators will hope to right a ship that seems to be sailing farther and farther away from the NCAA Tournament.

"They're (South Carolina) a team with great balance," UF coach Billy Donovan said. "They've gotten some tremendous road victories, so this will be a great challenge for our guys."

UF has little room for error in this one.

If the Gators plan to partake in this year's March Madness, they have to capitalize against the teams in the lower echelon of the SEC. South Carolina and Georgia - UF's next two opponents - are the bottom two squads in the SEC Eastern Division and likely must-wins at this point.

The last time these two teams met, the Gators barely squeaked by the Gamecocks. UF took the road contest 73-71 and scored 8 of the game's final 12 points.

The Gators trailed by as many as 9 in the second half and 2 with just four minutes remaining.

All the expectations and pressures of this game seem to have eluded Donovan, who said his team remains focused on the task ahead.

For the Gators, any idea of a postseason run is hardly worth mentioning.

"I don't think that we, the team, or me as the coach need to buy into all the drama, because it comes down to, simply, we have got to win basketball games," Donovan said. "The most important game on the schedule is South Carolina right now. All our energy and focus needs to go into that."

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