Point guard Eric Hester’s performance against LSU was encouraging sign

With nearly seven minutes left in the game, Eric Hester stood deep beyond the right wing with the ball in his hands.

As the seconds ticked off the shot clock, LSU’s Jalyn Patterson stood firm in his defensive stance, daring the freshman guard to shoot it. After a series of jab steps and head fakes, Hester launched a deep, high-arching shot toward the basket.

Swish.

Not even 30 seconds later, he hit another three.

Then another.

And then finally, with just over a minute left in the contest, Hester stepped into a line-drive triple from the top of the key and buried it over the outstretched arms of the Tigers’ Skylar Mays.

All together, Hester scored a career-high 16 points in No. 25 Florida’s 106-71…