Sophomore point guard Jai Lucas informed Coach Billy Donovan Wednesday morning of his intention to transfer from the University of Florida. Donovan said that Lucas will remain in school the rest of this semester and will be given his release to play at another school. Lucas could be eligible to play somewhere else as early as January of 2010.
“I met with Jai Lucas and he’s decided to transfer,” said Donovan, who was meeting with the media at the Florida practice facility. “We had a chance to sit down and talk and I had a chance to meet with his mom, too. I feel bad because Jai’s a great kid and he’s got a great family. I think that any time a player leaves your program you’re always disappointed but at the same point, I think at the same point Jai wasn’t totally happy and wanted to make it work.”
Donovan said that he and Lucas have not discussed potential schools for transfer and that Lucas will be free to use the practice facility, the strength and conditioning coaches and the academic support system until he transfers out.
“Right now he’s going to look at his options and then we’ll give him release and try to help him pursue whatever opportunities he wants to pursue going forward,” said Donovan.
Lucas, who started 36 games as a freshman and averaged 8.5 points and 2.2 assists per game, was a McDonald’s All-American, part of a 2007 Florida recruiting class that was ranked among the best in the nation. An All-SEC Freshman last season, Lucas started in the backcourt with Nick Calathes Monday night when the Gators blew out Warner University, 108-49, in an exhibition game. Lucas scored four points and handed out four assists, but he struggled with his shot, hitting only 1-6 from the three-point stripe and 1-9 overall.
Donovan said playing time wasn’t the problem for Lucas.
“I think there are probably a lot of contributing factors,” said Donovan. “One being far away from home and just maybe not feeling like it’s the best fit for him is how he put it. I understand that. He’s got a great family; he’s a great kid. I hate to see him go but my biggest focus is I want to see him be happy wherever he can go.”
In Monday’s exhibition game, Lucas played more off the ball while Calathes was Florida’s primary ball handler. Lucas is listed at 5-11 but probably more like 5-10 and he’s far more comfortable with the ball in his hands. With Calathes handling the ball, Lucas had to constantly work the perimeter, set screens and look for openings to get his shot and he never seemed comfortable with that.
Donovan gave credit to Lucas for trying to make the situation work.
“One thing I give credit for Jai is that he tried to in his mind he tried to make it work to the best he could make it work so he could be happy,” said Donovan. “As a coach you realize there is only so much length of time to play in college the last thing you want is for someone to be unhappy.”
With Lucas no longer part of the team, senior Walter Hodge will move back into the starting lineup. Hodge, a key reserve on Florida’s two national championship teams, started all 36 games last year, averaging 10.4 points per game.
Against Warner Monday night, Hodge played the role of Florida’s sixth man as he scored 12 points, including 2-4 from the three-point line. Donovan had hoped to play Hodge in that role this season since his veteran has the ability to provide instant offense off the bench.
“I made the comment after the game that Walter made a great sacrifice of going to the bench for the benefit of our team, which is a thing I wanted to experiment and look at,” said Donovan. “I’ll move Walter to the starting spot because he deserves it and he’s earned it and we’ll move him there tomorrow.”
Donovan will have to fast forward the growing up process for freshman point guard Erving Walker, who scored 13 points and handed out six assists Monday night. Walker is a 5-8, 161-pounder from New York with a hair trigger release on his shot. He showed Monday night that he knows how to get separation to get his shot off, but equally as important, showed the ability to get his teammates involved in the game.
“I think Erving has proved that he can at least be a formidable backcourt player for us, someone that hopefully we can rely on,” said Donovan. “He’s a freshman and he’s going to have his ups and downs. They all are.”
With Lucas and Calathes Donovan had two proven point guards and if one or the other got in foul trouble, the offense didn’t have to suffer. Also, Lucas rarely got flustered by pressure in the backcourt so he was valuable against the press.
“I thought Jai was an unflappable kid and he didn’t get rattled or bothered by a lot of opposing arenas,” said Donovan. “When you lose a player like that who has that level of experience it always hurts because you look at a guy like Erving who is in the backcourt there who has none other than an exhibition game the other night, so we have to try to figure out some things. We’ve got to get Erving ready because the one thing about it is that if Nick was in foul trouble we could play always play Jai and if Jai was in foul trouble we could play nick. Now we’re missing one of these guys.”
The Gators will be playing with a four-guard rotation against Rollins Thursday night in their final exhibition game. Walker will back up Calathes and freshman Ray Shipman will be the backup to Hodge at the wing.
Lucas leaving also means the Gators need Adam Allen to make a quicker recovery from an MCL sprain. Allen has missed 10 days of practice and Donovan said Wednesday that the 6-7 sophomore from Milton has healed a little bit slower than expected.
“As far as the backcourt, hopefully we’ll try to get Adam Allen healthy and see where he’s at,” said Donovan.