After spending a season on the sidelines, Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario admits his transition back to the court is still a work in progress.
While Rosario, a junior, had time to learn the Gators’ system during his redshirt year, the adjustment from just practicing every week to the intensity of in-game situations has been difficult.
“I feel like now that it’s here and I’m playing, it feels a little different still,” Rosario said. “I really haven’t adapted to playing the game yet. It’s been a whole year and a half, so I’m getting used to it.”
As Florida’s fourth-leading scorer through seven games, the 6-foot-3 Rosario hasn’t been hurt offensively by his time off. He led the Scarlet Knights in scoring his sophomore year with 16.7 points per game and is currently the only UF bench player to average double-digits.
“The position that I’m in now, it’s a great position I think because not too many guys in the country can come off the bench and score double-digits for a team like this,” Rosario said. “I feel like I’ve been doing a great job as far as coming off the bench and providing energy for my team.”
His 45.9 shooting percentage from three is also second to only junior guard Kenny Boynton among Gators with at least 15 attempts.
Instead, it has been Rosario’s defensive presence which has forced coach Billy Donovan to keep him on the bench at times.
Rosario went 0 for 2 from the field and played a season-low six minutes of Florida’s four-point loss to Syracuse. He came into Friday night averaging 20.2 minutes in six prior games.
“The last couple days, I think emotionally, he just hasn’t been there,” Donovan told reporters after the game. “I tried to use him a little bit and he just did not seem himself.”
Against the Orange’s 2-3 zone, the Gators’ normally deep rotation of 3-point shooters was thinned with Rosario on the sidelines for the entire second half. Florida was already missing forward Erik Murphy, who averages two threes a game, with a knee injury.
“It was more my decision not to play him,” Donovan said. “I actually felt like we needed defense because I knew we were going to have a hard time scoring with Patric (Young) off the floor.”
While Rosario wasn’t the only non-starter that ended up being a non-factor, his absence magnified the scoring burden put on Boynton and senior Erving Walker.
Boynton’s 22 points and Walker’s 17 accounted for 57 percent of Florida’s offense.
“It’s a different transition for me because where I was before when I got here I was the head guy, the leading scorer,” Rosario said last Wednesday. “Now that I’ve surrounded myself around a lot of good players, I have to do a role that I’m not used to. And now I’ve got to adapt to that and whatever it takes for me to do that role, then I have to do that.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Florida junior guard Mike Rosario said he is still adjusting to his role with the Gators after sitting out for a year following his transfer from Rutgers.
