With 15:25 remaining in the second half, junior Will Yeguete took the ball to the hoop and extended the Gators’ lead to 14 with a two-handed slam.
After missing the last nine games of the 2011-12 season due to a fractured left foot suffered on Feb. 21, Yeguete was back on the court with a lot of energy on Thursday night.
Entering the exhibition against Nebraska-Kearney, coach Billy Donovan’s biggest concern for No. 10 Florida was its ability to rebound.
Donovan even said he’d been disappointed by Yeguete’s rebounding performance in the days leading up to the exhibition.
Yeguete switched gears on Thursday, leading all players with 11 rebounds after averaging 6.3 per game last year.
The forward also tacked on 20 points while hitting 80 percent of his shots as he led Florida to a 101-71 win against Nebraska-Kearney in the O’Connell Center.
Yeguete also hit 4 of 5 shots from the free-throw line after hitting just 35.9 percent of his tries last season.
“I give him a lot of credit, because I think the things I pointed out to him he really tried to address,” Donovan said. “I’ve seen a different player (and) a different attitude.”
Yeguete added: “I think we could’ve done better (at rebounding), but personally I just wanted to go out there and at least get more than 10 rebounds. I want to prove [Donovan] wrong. I want to prove (to him) that we can be a good team and we can rebound.”
Although Donovan was pleased with Yeguete’s defense, the rest of the Gators did not draw such high praise.
Florida outrebounded its Division II opponent by just three.
“I was really surprised and disappointed ... with how we played defensively collectively as a group,” Donovan said.
“I am extremely alarmed and concerned about our team on that end of the floor.”
Despite the Gators’ shortcomings on defense, Donovan was impressed by the performances of UF’s four freshmen.
Freshman guard Michael Frazier II led the Gators with 21 points on 5-of-6 shooting from behind the arc in just 17 minutes.
Freshman Braxton Ogbueze rounded out the top performers, finishing third on the team with 15 points.
Together, the freshmen accounted for almost half of Florida’s total points.
“The young guys, they were providing intensity,” senior Kenny Boynton said. “They were rebounding, they got shots and they also were scoring.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
Forward Will Yeguete (15) attempts a shot in UF’s exhibition against Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday.
