GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Keyontae Johnson continues to make strides.

"He’s been pretty consistent," Gators head coach Mike White said about the sophomore. "It’s kind of a quiet consistency."

The Florida forward is not the most vocal leader on this team but his play speaks for itself. Johnson has averaged 13.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.

"He’s leading by example," said White. "More so than obviously he did as a freshman, as he was trying to find his way. You forget that this guys is a young sophomore. And he’s starting to play slower offensively, he’s becoming more and more versatile, he’s becoming more dependable on the glass."

The second-year Gator earned a SEC Player of the Week honor already this season, after averaging 16.3 points and 8 rebounds at the Charleston Classic. In this week's big win over Providence, Johnson netted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Unlike Andrew Nembhard, who started from day one, and Noah Locke, who started a few games into the season, Johnson had to wait until SEC Conference play to land his first start his freshman season.

Johnson's first start came on Jan. 19 against Georgia, and he has started every game since - becoming only the third Florida freshman to post a double-double in the NCAA Tournament.

"He is just a freak athlete," said Locke. "He is quiet but he just goes out there and plays his game. He doesn’t do anything spectacular, like trying to cross people up and stuff like that. He just goes to the rim and finishes. He does the simple things. It’s working well for him. You know he is crazy athletic, so he can get a lot of rebounds. It’s just falling place for him."

The game continues to slow down for Johnson, so one can easily assume that the best is yet to come from the second-year Gator.

"You know his thing is his motor, that’s what we challenge him with everyday, to impose his athleticism on the game at a higher level," explained White. "Because I think his ceiling is really high, and he’s still got a ways to go to be as good as he can be. But he’s improving, he had a good workout this morning.”

Johnson and the Gators (7-3) will return to action on Saturday when they play against Utah State (11-2) in the Orange Bowl Classic. Tip off is set at 2:30 p.m.