Florida basketball: Gators in contact with Joe Girard

Florida basketball continues to grow its contact list of players as they enter into the transfer portal, and are starting to strongly pursue a few guys that fit in with the Gators.

Their latest contact is Syracuse transfer guard Joe Girard, who declared for the NBA Draft, but maintained his eligibility and will likely come back to college for one more year.

Girard and his Syracuse team didn’t have a great season, but Girard was as sharp a shooter as he has been his entire career.

He scored 16.4 points per game with three assists and shot the ball at a great rate.

He was 40.3% from the field, 38.1% from deep, and 85.7% from the free throw line. He would have led the Gators’ starters in three-point percentage and would have tied Will Richard for the best percentage from the charity stripe.

The biggest appeal about Girard may be his ceiling. When he gets hot, he can turn a game upside down all by himself.

Girard is coming back for his fifth year in college. That experience at the guard position would do wonders for the Gators, and help keep the offense afloat and under control if it goes under dry spells.

Joe was also on the Syracuse team in 2020 that made a run to the Sweet 16, so he has plenty of experience in big games, which he’d play plenty of in Gainesville.

Girard would make a great pair with another transfer that the Gators are after, Walter Clayton Jr. Clayton is more of the ball handler, and Girard would be the shooter that finds open space off the ball.

If Golden can get those two guys to run the offense, Florida will be in good shape heading into next season with their backcourt.

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