Starting Guard Listed on Gators' Injury Report vs. South Carolina

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 5 Florida Gators men’s basketball team on Tuesday released their initial availability report for their road matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks, and despite the team holding a clean bill of health up to this point, one starting guard was listed on the report.

Senior guard Will Richard, who is third on the team in scoring with 13 points per game, is listed as "probable" heading into Wednesday's game. However, it's unclear as to why he was listed on the report.

The availability report is new for all SEC athletics in 2024-25 and requires all schools in the conference to provide public reports on the availability of student-athletes participating in each conference game.

If he weren’t to play, this would be a significant blow for the Gators. Road games are already tough to come by, but losing Richard makes it even tougher, especially considering his recent performance against Texas.

In the 84-60 win over the Longhorns, Richard scored nine points with five rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block. Not to mention, he consistently shut down Tre Johnson, who is top-five in the conference in scoring.

Johnson scored 16 points against Florida but was held to 6-for-15 on field goals.

"We've talked about his growth as a player a lot, but every time he was in the game, his 33 minutes, we had him on Tre Johnson today. And in the past, you know, might lose a guy for three – he was locked in. He did a wonderful job, you know, I'll pick on him with a few contested or fouls on the jump shots. But he made everything really, really hard for Tre tonight," head coach Todd Golden said after Saturday's game.

Overall, Richard's status doesn't sound too worrying considering the SEC’s definition of probable. According to the SEC’s availability status definitions, probable means the player is “likely to play, barring any setbacks.”

There will be another report released closer to game time, which will give a definitive answer on Richard availability for Wednesday'game.

As for the Gamecocks, they are without seniors Jamarii Thomas and Myles Stute, who both are listed as “out”. They also listed freshman Cam Scott as “questionable” for this game. Thomas is the most notable loss of the three as he is second in scoring with points per game and first in assists with assists per game.

The contest between Florida and South Carolina is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip off. It will be broadcasted on SEC Network.