Boogie Fland knows he still isn’t as strong as he needs to be.
He’s getting closer, though, after packing on 13 pounds of muscle from last season, when he averaged 13.5 points and 5.1 assists for the Razorbacks but struggled against more physical SEC teams. The freshman’s slight frame took its toll alongside an undisclosed hernia injury and more public thumb injury.
On Monday night against No. 13 Arizona, Boogie Fland made his Florida basketball debut in a newly retooled Gators backcourt. The thumb issue was all gone; the strength shortcoming wasn’t. The 6’2” guard made an impressive and-one fastbreak bucket through contact in second half surge but still had trouble finishing in the teeth of a stout interior defense, at one point seeing an attempt near the paint obliterated by swarming Wildcats.