Coach Billy Donovan has suspended Dorian Finney-Smith and Damontre Harris indefinitely for violating team rules.
Like Scottie Wilbekin, who was suspended on June 10 for also breaking team rules, neither Finney-Smith nor Harris will play in tonight’s exhibition game against Florida Southern at 7 in the O’Connell Center.
All three suspended players will also be unavailable for the season opener against North Florida on Nov. 8. When asked if they will miss more than the first game of the year, Donovan said a lot depends on how they handle themselves in the near future.
“I’ve got them in practice right now,” Donovan said. “They’re practicing. They will do that. There’s some things that they need to do as well. Hopefully, they will do it, and we’ll see how that translates going forward.”
Harris redshirted last season after transferring from South Carolina, where he averaged 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in two seasons.
During Florida’s media day on Oct. 9, Donovan said he wanted to try playing the 6-foot-10 Harris at center while Patric Young, who played center for the Gators last year, shifted to power forward.
Although Harris is cleared to practice during the suspension, he has missed the past two practices with the flu.
Finney-Smith, another transfer who redshirted last season, averaged 6.3 points and seven rebounds per game as a freshman at Virginia Tech.
Minus Harris and Finney-Smith, and without a healthy Will Yeguete, the biggest the Gators can play in the frontcourt would be the 6-foot-9 Young at center, 6-foot-6 Casey Prather at forward and 6-foot-6 DeVon Walker at guard.
In addition to being without their two newest big men due to suspensions, the Gators will not have Michael Frazier II on the court tonight. UF announced Wednesday that Frazier had been diagnosed with mononucleosis and will be out indefinitely.
“I think his illness will probably go into some regular-season games,” Donovan said.
Meanwhile, Yeguete, who has been recovering from arthroscopic debridement surgery on his right knee since May, has been cleared to practice but is still unsure whether he will play tonight.
Donovan said he is leaving the decision to play up to Yeguete.
“I would say that, right now, Will is feeling and talking that he does not want to play for [Friday],” Donovan said Thursday. “If he does play [Friday], it’s going to be on his terms. I’m not forcing him or telling him he can’t.”
Because of the three suspensions and the rash of injuries that have plagued No. 10 Florida, Donovan said he has not thought about a starting five for tonight’s exhibition match. He said the starting lineup will have no bearing on the rest of the season because the Gators do not currently have their full complement of players.
“Right now, we’re not a very good team, and I’m not so sure it’s necessarily all because of [the players],” Donovan said. “We’ve had some injuries.
“We’re not the same team. I think if everybody looked at it on paper before the season started, each guy is healthy, each guy is here, what our team would look like, and our team is not that team on paper.”
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn.
Dorian Finney-Smith poses for a photo during Florida’s basketball media day. The redshirt sophomore was one of two players suspended Thursday.
