Carter Finds Touch as Gators Torch Bulldogs
Sunday, January 11, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In his two seasons at Florida little has gone the way Eli Carter envisioned when he transferred from Rutgers over the summer of 2013.
Carter figured there would be more games like Saturday when he scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Gators to a 72-47 rout of Mississippi State.
Carter was efficient in his production, taking only eight shots from the floor. He hit six of those attempts, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range, and drained all four of his free throws in his best game in two months.
“Eli Carter's shot chart over his career looks like an EKG,'' Florida head coach Billy Donovan said. “I mean that from the standpoint that, I think Eli is one of those guys, when his shot is not falling, there have been other parts of his game that have fallen.”
Carter's shots were on point Saturday, and so were those other parts of his game Donovan mentioned. The redshirt junior guard added three assists, a steal, and committed only one turnover in 27 minutes off the bench.
Since a 21-point performance in a loss to Miami on Nov. 17, Carter's shot looked ill.
Over that seven-game span Carter missed five games due to a mid-foot sprain and a case of strep throat, played only a minute in one, and scored a grand total of 24 points by shooting 19.4 percent (7-for-36) from the floor, and 16.6 percent (4-for-24) from beyond the 3-point line.
Finally feeling better, Carter hopes good health is the remedy that ends his struggles.
“It's definitely a weight off my shoulders,'' Carter said. “Feels good be out there and be able to help my brothers. And try to stay healthy obviously.”
Carter played in the season's first two games but suffered the foot injury prior to Florida's game against Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 21. He later missed time with strep throat.
This after missing his first season at UF.
A season ago Carter played in seven games – hitting just one of his 14 shots – before shutting it down for the season to rehab a leg injury that he suffered at Rutgers. Meanwhile, Florida advanced all the way to the Final Four with Carter as a spectator.
And then for the first time at UF, Carter felt completely healthy when the Gators tipped off this season in November.
Of course, that didn't last long.
Eli Carter is starting to feel close to 100 percent and it showed Saturday. (Photo: Jim Burgess)
Carter had trouble shaking the foot injury, which disrupted his shot and prevented him from breaking down defenses in a way the Gators sorely need.
“If I could have played on it I would,'' Carter said Saturday. “I wasn't going to rush anything. They have great trainers here. I just try to give out good vibes whether I'm hurt or I'm healthy. Whatever I can do to help this team.”
The best way Carter can help is with more games like Saturday's. He scored 10 points in the first half and 10 in the second as Florida led wire-to-wire in their 20th consecutive regular-season SEC win.
Equally important, Carter said he felt as good as he has physically since the season opener.
Is he 100 percent?
“I'm getting there,'' he said. “I feel like I help them in a lot of ways. Not even with my scoring, but with my experience.”
Point guard Kasey Hill, who had seven points and seven assists, views the 6-foot-2 Carter as a difference maker for the Gators if he can stay healthy.
Carter can handle the ball to take some of the pressure off Hill in running the offense, and he can shoot outside to help ease some of the scoring burden on guard Michael Frazier III.
“He can stretch the floor like Fraze,'' Hill said. “He's not as good a knock-down shooter as Fraze, but he shoots just as good as Fraze in my opinion and he can put the ball on the floor and create for others.”
As he talked to a large throng of reporters after the game, Carter draped a Gatorade towel around his neck and a rare smile over his face.
Donovan hopes to see more of that side of Carter – and the one who took charges and hit clutch free throws in Wednesday's victory at South Carolina -- as the season progresses.
“This was a game his shots were going in,'' Donovan said. “It's always easy to be engaged when you're making shots and it's going well offensively for you. I'm trying to get him over and through. He's a smart player. When he's out there, he's almost like having another point guard out there mentally. He's got really good vision, a good feel and knows how to play. If he does not shoot the ball well … we have to get those other things from him.
“I think he's working hard to get that.”
