The stat line will seem most impressive to most people: Florida center Marreesse Speights had a career-high 24 points and 15 rebounds in an 88-70 win over High Point Wednesday night.

But for Florida coach Billy Donovan, the most impressive thing was that Speights played 31 minutes in the game.

Donovan believes, and he's told Speights this over and over, that the sophomore's lack of conditioning is what's holding him back from being a great player.

"I was really pleased with him the last couple of games because I think in order to press and get up and down the floor, we've got to practice like that,'' Donovan said. "And I think one of the things I noticed in practice weeks ago is he gets tired and everything shuts down for him. He doesn't play defense, he doesn't block out, he doesn't run, you can tell. Everybody in the building knows when Marreese is tired.''

Donovan said he and the coaching staff have emphasized his conditioning much more in practice, reminding him he has to learn to fight through fatigue.

"He did a much better job (Wednesday night),'' Donovan said. "I can't remember the last time I saw that guy outrun a player down the floor twice in the first half and get a dunk just by sheer, pure running. So I'm hopeful he realizes that the whole key to his game is conditioning.''

Donovan isn't the only one riding Speights about getting into shape. His teammates are on him too.

"It's all in his mind,'' Jonathan Mitchell said. "If he has that mindset coming into the game that I want to
play 25, 30 minutes he can do it. It's not the fact that he can't do it, it's that sometimes he gets a little lazy and doesn't push himself.''