Aleks Szymczyk squares up for one of his two 3-pointers on his way to eight points Saturday at Arkansas.
'Shimmy' Seizes Opportunity at '5' Spot
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In the bowels of Bud Walton Arena Saturday afternoon, Aleks Szymczyk was still a little wide-eyed when he walked out of the visitors' locker room. Florida had just been pounded 84-65 by host Arkansas in a game where very little went right for the Gators. Aleks Szymczyk
Except for Szymczyk, that is.
"Honestly, I've got to sleep tonight and rewind," the 6-foot-10, 240-pound German forward said through his mostly clean English. "I'm a little in my emotions right now."
Understandably so, given the circumstances, but certainly not because of anything Szymczyk might have done wrong. Before delving a little deeper into what Szymczyk managed to do in 20 minutes off the bench against the Razorbacks consider before that game he'd played a total of 35 mop-up minutes in eight games this season, with only three appearances (for 24 minutes) in Southeastern Conference play.
Now consider that because of what he put on tape that afternoon, Szymczyk (pronounced SHIM-chick, but "Shimmy" to his teammates and coaches) will be called on yet again Wednesday night when the Gators (14-13, 7-7) take on SEC blue blood Kentucky (18-9, 9-5) and its 6-foot-9, 260-pound thoroughbred post man extraordinaire Oscar Tshiebwe.
In other words, "Nice job, kid. Now go bang around with the 2022 NCAA and SEC Player of the Year."
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Setup" here]
Truth be told, it's probably a pretty unfair assignment, yet Szymczyk proved he was up for the challenging tasks of helping replace the loss of Colin Castleto, who was lost for the season with a broken right hand last week, and his first taste of big-time college basketball; on the road, no less.
"It was impressive," Castleton said.
Now comes a next-level challenge. Tshiebwe is averaging 15.8 points and a league-best 13.0 rebounds, but probably is frothing for a rematch with the Gators after scoring just four points and going 2-for-14 (albeit with 15 rebounds) against Castleton in UK's 72-67 win at Lexington on Feb. 4. The 6-11 Castleton destroyed the Cats in the halfcourt that day, finishing with 25 points, eight boards, five assists and three blocks. Now, he's gone, replaced by two backups, 6-11, 300-pound senior center Jason Jitoboh and Szymczyk, who are averaging a combined 4.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in their limited time this season.
Florida's first full game minus Castleton came against the Hogs. Jitoboh got the start and finished with four points, two rebounds and two turnovers over 24 minutes. Szymczyk came off the bench to spell Jitoboh early and looked very much like he belonged, posting career highs of eight points (including a pair of 3s), six rebounds, four steals, a blocked shot and two turnovers in those 20 minutes.
Of all the plays that caught the attention of associate head coach Carlin Hartman, who works with the team's bigs, was seeing Szymczyk hustle back in transition defense and swat away a run-out layup attempt by Arkansas guard Jordan Walsh.
"I almost shed a tear I was so proud," said Hartman, who basically was speaking on behalf of the rest of the staff. "He played beyond our expectations."
Added Coach Todd Golden: "Most impressive thing was he wasn't scared. He had a great mentality. Stepping on the court with older guys, good players, stepping up and hitting two big 3s. I was really pleased and I'm happy for him that he was able to perform so well."
So he earned the right to get a second look.
"The best thing about it?" Hartman said. "He knows it was just one game."
That's key. That game means nothing relative to this one, other than a dose of confidence.
"Time only goes one way. You can't go back, so you have to learn and evaluate," Szymczyk said. "It's only been two nights since, but I'm already on from that game. My focus is the next game and now I can get better."
So Tuesday it was back to work. Back to trying to build. Only this time, he did so taking reps with the "Blue" team (the regular rotation players) versus the "Orange" scout team.
Alex Szymcyzk (13) did not blink under the bright lights Saturday provided by Arkansas and 20,000 at Bud Walton Arena.
"Obviously, I had a little jitters. Kind of nervous, being the first time I was playing on that stage — 20,000 people — with all those eyes on me," Szymczyk said. "I have to be better protecting the ball. I have to be better on the scout. I have to try to play more consciously. Sometimes I rely too much on instincts, which can be good — like when I blocked the shot — but I jumped on some ball-fakes, so I have to be better with my feet. More discipline. But all these things are rookie mistakes. Hopefully, the next two or three games I will make them less and less."
If so, he'll play more and more.
"We're going to ride with him down the stretch," Golden said. "One of the things that we value so much about him is just his competitive spirit and his approach on a day-to-day basis and his consistency. I mean eight and six in [20] minutes is hard to do for anybody, but for a freshman in that environment I thought was really, really good and says a lot about what his potential is for his future here."
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