The Florida Gators basketball team has added to their roster with the addition of Alex Kovatchev who comes to the Gators after two years at Sacramento State.
Kovatchev is someone who is very familiar to Alex Condon, hailing from the same city in Australia (Perth) and playing alongside him at The Basketball Center For Excellence. Sacramento State is one of the schools that is known for having Australian players and he was one of several on the roster, and he now comes to the Gators to add some depth on the wing.
In the 2023-24 season as a true freshman Kovatchev played a significant role for the Hornets playing 22.8 minutes per game averaging 5.0 points and 3.7 rebounds. Then, last season he started on the wing for the first four games of the campaign before suffering a season ending injury, a year that will be wiped away with a medical redshirt ensuring he still has three years to play.
Standing at 6’5” and 190 pounds, Kovatchev played his minutes at the wing for Sacramento State and he’ll look to do the same at Florida–a team that has tons of depth in the backcourt and frontcourt but doesn’t have a lot of wing-sized talent. As a player, Kovatchev is all about toughness and defense. He plays the game with intensity and effort and doesn’t at all shy away from physicality–in fact, he often invites it. This defensive effort is what got him on the floor at Sacramento State immediately as a freshman, and what had him starting games before his injury.
Offensively, Kovatchev is quite limited. He particularly struggles to make jump shots having shot 28% from three in his short college career so far, though he has had some moments of heating up. One concern about the idea of him developing a more consistent stroke is that he also shot 54% from the free throw line, showing that he generally struggles anywhere that isn’t around the rim.
Of course–Kovatchev is young and has a lot of time to develop, so Florida will happily use one of their final roster spots for a player that is said to be high character and one that is good friends with Condon. He’ll also provide toughness and defense at the wing, which might not be something that comes onto the floor all that much this season but will be great to have at practice since the Gators don’t have a ton of wings to simulate the size at that position they’ll see a lot in the SEC.
It’s not known how much he’ll play right away, particularly given the level he came from and the year he just lost due to injury. Sacramento State was one of the worst teams in college basketball last year finishing 348th in KenPom, and the lack of shooting will be an issue. Whenever he does end up getting on the floor, look for fans to love him right away for his toughness and effort.