Seven-foot-one center Micah Handlogten averaged nearly eight points and 10 rebounds at Marshall last season.
Harry Fodder: How Micah Handlogten Fits In
Monday, April 10, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Let's start with the obvious.
You can't teach height and Micah Handlogten, the 7-foot-1, 227-pound Marshall transfer who officially became a Florida Gator on Monday, is the program's first 7-footer since Dwayne Schintzius roamed the floor in 1989. And not only is Handlogten tall and lengthy, he was incredibly productive as a first-year collegiate player on the way to being named 2023 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year.
Handlogten, out of Huntersville, N.C., started all 32 games in 2022-23 for a team that went 24-8. Along the way, he averaged 7.6 points on just over 66-percent shooting from the floor, plus 9.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 2.3 blocks per game. Not bad for a kid who was still 18 years old nearly two months into the season.
Yeah, that's right. Handlogten will come to UF as a 19-year-old — he won't turn 20 until Dec. 17 — and will have three years of eligibility left in Coach Todd Golden's rebuilding program. Come Summer "A" session, he'll instantly get to work with strength/conditioning coordinator Victor Lopez in the weight room and with Associate Head Coach Carlin Hartman, who oversees the UF bigs, for low-post skill work on the practice floor.
A scouting report of Handlogten shows a true post player who can rim-run, move well laterally and has very good hands and reach radius for post-ups and duck-ins. His mobility and agility can be traced to a youth career as a standout lacrosse player, a sport he eventually simply outgrew.
Note: Get used to the Gators pursing players who excelled in multiple sports, a trait the staff will consider during the evaluation process maybe as much as it crunches analytic numbers as it looks to make the team not only more athletic and way more competitive.
Micah Handlogten (5) shot 76 percent from the 2-point area against Sun Belt opponents and had one game where he scored 19 points and grabbed 19 rebounds.
But what about Handlogten's analytics?
He shot a mind-blowing 76 percent from the 2-point area in conference play (71 percent overall, which was 10th nationally). His effective field-goal percentage of 66.3 for the season was ninth-best in the country and his 8.7-percent blockage rate (as in he blocks nearly 9 percent of all shots when he's on the floor) was 27th. Those are really good numbers, obviously. Where Handlogten needs to grow (besides gaining weight and strength) is with his free-throw shooting (just 53 percent). He made just one of 12 3s, but who cares? He's not going to be floating around beyond the arc.
No, where Handlogten is really going to help the Gators is rebounding (both ends), an area where the team was among the worst in the SEC, ranking 285th nationally (30.7 percent) on the defensive end and a woeful 320th on the offensive end (23.8 percent). They were so overmatched on the glass in '22-23 that the Gators basically surrendered in some instances, choosing instead to send their wings back in transition defense position versus the risk of trying to rebound. UF in '23-24 intends to be bigger and much better (and more committed) on the boards. Handlogten posted individual rebounding percentages of 26.3 on defense and 13.7 on offense (for context, Colin Castleton was 20.2 and 6.6, respectively). How those numbers translate for Handlogten from the Sun Belt to the more athletic and physical Southeastern Conference will bear watching, but even if he slips by 5-8 percentage points the Gators will be better off.
Plus, they're not done with their offseason big-man shopping, yet. Stay tuned.
But Handlogten, who carded eight double-doubles and had a game of 19 points and 19 rebounds against Coastal Carolina, joins Yale transfer EJ Jarvis, who averaged 11.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in the Ivy League, as portal acquisitions in the front court. After picking UF amid overtures from the likes of Auburn and North Carolina State, he figures to be, at minimum, an instant-impact guy. Also a unique guy.
How unique?
The number of players in the country over the last three years to average at least 7.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and shoot at least 67 percent while playing at least 25 minutes over a season — get this — is one. Now that one guy, Micah Handlogten, is a Gator.
Handlogten, out of Huntersville, N.C., started all 32 games in 2022-23 for a team that went 24-8. Along the way, he averaged 7.6 points on just over 66-percent shooting from the floor, plus 9.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 2.3 blocks per game. Not bad for a kid who was still 18 years old nearly two months into the season. 
