Wednesday, February 1, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — At the risk of a sensitive play on words, you might say Jason Jitoboh has had eye on Wednesday night's game against Tennessee. Pick which eye. The good one the Florida center remains blessed with or the other he nearly lost just over a year ago in Knoxville.
Doesn't matter. What does is that at some point in the game, probably in the first half, the 6-foot-11, 300-pound Jitoboh will be summoned by Coach Todd Golden to get on the floor and help the Gators (12-9, 5-3) try to overcome the second-ranked and powerhouse Volunteers (18-3, 7-1). It's a routine in-game ritual that in February 2022 was very much in doubt.
"This game means a lot to me, I can't lie," Jitoboh said. "It means a lot to me to prove I can overcome things. That I can overcome this."
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
A year ago I injured my eye in a game and It was a lot of nights I thought I would never play basketball again. Although, It was a long road to recovery but I'm happy to be able to be back on the court doing what I love. 🖤 pic.twitter.com/iZ5GvClkUm
UF went to Tennessee last Jan. 26. The Gators were in the fourth of what would be a six-game stretch without All-Southeastern Conference forward Colin Castleton, with Jitoboh replacing Castleton in the starting lineup. Jitoboh, a junior who had struggled with injury and weight issues during his two previous seasons, was in the best shape and playing the best basketball of his career, having averaged 9.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 23.3 minutes since taking Castleton's place.
Florida went into Thompson-Boling Arena, where it had not won in seven years. The Gators had a 10-point lead on the 18th-ranked Vols with less than three minutes to go in the first half when a missed UF shot sent a wave of bodies to the glass. In the mix, UT's 6-9 forward Olivier Nkamhoua reached over Jitoboh and inadvertently put a finger in his left eye. No foul was called on the play as the action went the other way.
Jitoboh, though, remained on the floor in agony.
"Everything just went dark immediately. My eyes were open, but I couldn't see anything," he recalled. "Normally, when I get poked in the eye, a couple blinks and I'm fine. This time was different. Blood was coming out of my eye, so I knew it was worse than just a normal poke."
So did UF trainer Dave Werner, but even he was surprised to the extent of the injury.
Back in Gainesville, barely 12 hours after what became a 78-71 loss for the Gators, Jitoboh was in surgery at UF Health. The first of several, as it turned out. Doctors there said they'd never seen an injury so severe that occurred via impact from a blunt object, as opposed to a sharp one.
"I don't know what other damage could have been done," Werner said.
Jitoboh suffered a severe avulsion, with the muscle literally torn off the eye and surgery needed to reattach it. He also had a detached retina and damage to the optic nerve.
"When they told me everything that was wrong it all sounded like gibberish to me. They talked about parts of my eye I didn't even know existed, only that I'd damaged all of it," Jitoboh said. "Honestly, I thought college basketball was over for me."
The recovery would be tedious and certainly test both his patience and resolve.
The third surgery had doctors insert oil behind the eye that needed to seep in and around the socket. That required Jitoboh, his eye covered with a thick patch, to lie on his stomach 50 minutes every hour during the day, with only 10 minutes on his feet, to make gravity push the oil forward.
It took weeks, but the time finally came for the patch to come off. At first, Jitoboh saw nothing but black. Then things started turning red, as a fuzzy, very different world came into something other than focus; this became his visual norm.
Even now, Jitoboh ballparks his sight at around just 50 percent; and almost exclusively peripheral vision, with very little straight-on sight. There is hope the condition will improve, with another surgery after the season.
A jubilant Jason Jitoboh (33) earlier in the first half at Tennessee last season ... before his injury.
The fact he's even having a current season — Jitoboh has appeared in 20 games, averaging 9.6 minutes, 2.7 points and 1.5 rebounds, with protective eyewear, of course — is remarkable.
"He's been through a lot," said Golden, who arrived last March unsure if he'd even have Jitoboh on his first Florida team. "For him to be out there consistently like he has, it's an impressive kind of toughness, both mentally and physically."
Being out there Wednesday night against the Vols — against Nkamhoua; against 7-1 backup center and former prep-school teammate Uros Plavsic; against the team whose fans booed him as he left the court dazed, bleeding and basically blind last season — will mean a lot to Jitoboh, personally.
Consider it a milestone. Maybe even a sense of closure.
"There were so many nights, laying there, that I wondered if I'd ever play college basketball again," Jitoboh said. "It was a long process to get back to basketball again and all the time I thought about Tennessee and would watch Tennessee, and I would think about this game. About playing in this game."
And now, he can see it through. Both literally and figuratively.
