Sources: Florida’s Colin Castleton out for season with broken hand
Florida basketball was dealt a season-killing hand on Wednesday night — literally — when star center Colin Castleton left the game early in the second half gripping his hand in apparent pain. After the Gators put up an admirable effort in his absence to cruise to a 79-64 home win over the Ole Miss Rebels, the program told the media that he suffered a fracture in his hand.
According to sources familiar with the extent of the injury per The Athletic, the broken hand ends the final regular season of his collegiate career, but there is a slight chance he could return for a postseason run. Given that the Gators are on the outside looking in on the NCAA Tournament, that also seems fairly unlikely.
Castleton had a slow first half in Wednesday night’s game and only tallied three points, three rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes before leaving the court. There were no prior indications that anything was wrong with the 6-foot-11-inch center and even the replays of the event at the time were unclear as to what the cause of the injury was.
The former transfer from the Michigan Wolverines started all 25 games for the Orange and Blue during the 2022-23 campaign, averaging a team-leading 16.5 points per game along with 7.9 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 2.7 assists per. Last year — in a season that was also marred by injury — Castleton averaged 16.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 1.5 assists.
With his collegiate eligibility exhausted, the top shot-blocker in the Southeastern Conference is expected to test the NBA draft waters but will likely land either with a G-League team or a franchise overseas.
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