GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Junior forward Colin Castleton earned co-SEC Player of the Week honors after a pair of huge performances to help the Gators to a 2-0 start in SEC action. Castleton scored 23 in UF’s SEC-opening win at Vanderbilt and followed that up with a 21-point outing in Saturday’s victory vs. LSU. He shares the honor with Alabama’s John Petty.
Castleton shot 11-for-13 from the field (.846) at Vanderbilt, including five dunks, the best field goal percentage by any SEC player on the road in league play in nearly five years (Damian Jones, .923, 2/23/16). He scored 17 of his team-leading 23 points in the second half, as the Gators won at Vanderbilt for the third straight time, something done only once before in Florida history (2001-03).
In Saturday’s win vs. LSU, Castleton again came up huge in the second half. He picked up a pair of quick fouls and played just two minutes in the first half, scoring two points. Over the first six minutes of the second half, however, Castleton scored all 15 of Florida’s points and rolled up 19 of his team-leading 21 points after the break.
In both games, Castleton’s second-half scoring total topped his previous career high of 14 points, set vs. Houston Baptist while he played at Michigan.
Castleton is the first Gators post player to receive the honor since Patric Young did so early in his sophomore campaign on Dec. 12, 2011. Castleton joins Young (once), Joakim Noah (twice) and Udonis Haslem (twice) as Florida big men to win SEC Player of the Week recognition over the past 20 years.
