There was no red carpet rolled out for Dorian Finney-Smith on Saturday night.
There was no standing ovation when he subbed in to a 3-3 tie against Arkansas-Little Rock, and there was no curtain call when No. 11 Florida walked off the court two hours later with a 30-point victory.
But in his 16-minute debut with the Gators, a sick and exhausted Finney-Smith showed Billy Donovan, his team and the O’Connell Center the grit that had been absent from the squad so far this season.
Because the Virginia Tech transfer was bedridden all week, he had not picked up a basketball — let alone practiced — since Monday.
But with his suspension for violating team rules recently lifted, Finney-Smith said he was not going to let poor health get in his way of being on the court.
“Coach, I can go,” the redshirt sophomore told Donovan during shootaround on Saturday morning. “He was trying to hold me. He was thinking about it, but I’m just like, ‘I’m ready to go.’”
Finney-Smith, like the rest of the Gators, had a slow first half. In six minutes of work, he had five points and one rebound as UF struggled to bring the game to a 27-27 tie by halftime.
Without Finney-Smith, Florida was outrebounded in its first two games of the season for the first time since 2007. The addition of the 6-foot-8 forward was supposed to improve the frontcourt and provide the team with second chance opportunities.
But in the first half, the Trojans had a 22-15 edge on rebounds over the Gators despite Finney-Smith being on the floor.
“I was really disappointed,” Donovan said. “We gave up nine points on loose balls and offensive rebounds. I was happy (the score) was tied with the way we were playing.”
Finney-Smith said his chest and legs were burning throughout the game, but he added that it would have been wrong to play without giving maximum effort.
In the second half, Donovan and the rest of Florida saw that effort.
In 10 minutes, not only did Finney-Smith add 12 points, but he also grabbed eight more rebounds to bring his game total to a team-high of nine.
Donovan said Finney-Smith gave the Gators the spark they needed to pull away from the Trojans even though the redshirt sophomore was not at 100 percent in his first game in nearly two years.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” Donovan said.
“He hadn’t really picked up a ball since Monday. He really moved the basketball and made the extra pass. Because he can shoot it, put it on the floor and pass, he opens up a lot of other things for our guys.”
The only reward Finney-Smith wanted after the game was getting a chance to rest before Florida takes on Southern on Monday at 7 p.m.
Because of the quick turnaround, Donovan held Finney-Smith out of practice Sunday in order to give him as much rest as possible before the next game.
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn.
Dorian Finney-Smith attempts a layup during Florida’s 86-56 victory against Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday in the O’Connell Center.
