NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Lower than three minutes into it, the SEC championship sport between Auburn and Florida was marred by a ugly harm to Gators 7-footer Micah Handlogten on Sunday afternoon. His decrease left leg buckled upon touchdown from an offensive rebound try. As play continued on the opposite finish, Handlogten lay in a heap on the court docket, protecting his mouth however not hiding a glance that was equal components horror and shock. Florida coaches, medical employees and Handlogten’s household rushed to his facet.
Bridgestone Area, which had been thunderous moments earlier, fell eerily silent. As medical personnel threw a towel over the injured leg and others shielded the scene from the group’s view, Auburn gamers huddled close by to hope. Handlogten was in tears as an air forged was rapidly utilized to his leg and he was fastidiously hoisted onto a stretcher.
From a silent crowd, one fan yelled out, “Be robust, Micah, be robust!” Visibly shaken teammates raced over to want him effectively as Handlogten was wheeled out of the sector on a stretcher. He acquired a rousing ovation after which play continued.
A UF spokesperson mentioned Handlogten has a decrease leg harm and was taken to the close by Vanderbilt College Medical Middle for additional analysis.
For you #3.
Love you Micah 💙 pic.twitter.com/e8KnlvJHdf
— Florida Gators Males’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) March 17, 2024
Handlogten, a Marshall switch who was Solar Belt Rookie of the Yr in 2023, has not been a significant component for Florida in current weeks — simply 9 complete factors in his earlier six video games — however he’s began 32 instances, together with Sunday, and averaged 5.5 factors and seven.1 rebounds. He had 23 factors and 17 boards on Jan. 27 towards Georgia.
The Gators (24-10) don’t have any scarcity of measurement, and 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (14.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and 6-11 Alex Condon (7.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg) can fill the on-court void, however the emotional toll of such an upsetting harm is tough to quantify.
Handlogten’s harm was so extreme it drew references to Kevin Ware’s leg break, who suffered his grotesque harm within the Elite Eight of the 2013 NCAA Match. Louisville rallied round Ware and went on to win the 2013 nationwide championship.
Having been about 30 ft away from Kevin Ware’s snapped leg in 2013 and now being an analogous distance from Micah Handlogten’s ugly harm right now, I wish to by no means be wherever close to one other a kind of.
Exhausting to only resume a basketball sport after these issues.
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) March 17, 2024
This story can be up to date.
(Picture: Carly Mackler / Getty Photographs)
