GAINESVILLE -- — Florida coach Billy Donovan said Monday that senior forward Chandler Parsons, who suffered a deep thigh bruise a week ago when colliding with teammate Alex Tyus on a rebound against Tennessee, could miss his second straight game on Thursday night.
The Gators (21-5 overall, 10-2 in the SEC) host Georgia (18-8, 7-5) at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Parsons (10.8 points, 7.7 rebounds a contest) made huge strides in the last few weeks before being hurt.
"Right now, I'm not personally overly optimistic that he'll play (against Georgia)," Donovan said on Monday. "I think in his mind he wants to play and will try to play. But the last time he did anything physically was this past Friday and really couldn't get much done at all.
"So it's kind of a unique situation, one, because we've got a lot of games in a short time, and, two, playing (Sunday) afternoon in Baton Rouge (a 68-61 win vs. LSU), we've got a couple of days here to see how much progress he can make. I'm not so sure that he's going to make the progress necessary to play."
Donovan said UF will prepare for the Bulldogs without Parsons in the game plan.
"If he's able to play, great. That would be a bonus," Donovan added. "But right now, I don't have any other information other than if we were playing (Monday) or (Tuesday), he would not play."
UF faces a huge stretch run, visiting Kentucky on Saturday -- just two days after the Georgia contest -- then hosting Alabama next Tuesday night in what could be for the SEC's regular season title.
That means the Gators will play three games in six days. The regular season finale is March 5 at Vanderbilt. With so many games bunched together, that means Parsons could miss several contests if he is slow to return.
Florida has won five straight games and seven of its last eight.
