Losing one starter from a short rotation was a significant problem for the University of Utah basketball team.
Facing the prospect of missing a second starter has turned that problem dire.
Speaking on his weekly ESPN700 radio show on Monday evening, Utes head coach Craig Smith indicated he does not expect third-year sophomore point guard Rollie Worster to play Thursday night against No. 4 UCLA at the Huntsman Center (9 p.m., Fox Sports 1).
Early in the second half of a 67-59 loss at Arizona State on Saturday night, Worster appeared to twist his ankle as he came down from a driving layup attempt. Worster stayed down momentarily, was helped to his feet, and eventually disappeared to the locker room with 16:33 to play. He did not return.
Worster’s injury is officially being called a lower-leg injury, but the initmation on the radio from Smith Monday night was that it is an ankle issue. Utah is already without second-leading scorer Gabe Madsen, who suffered a high-ankle sprain at Oregon on Jan. 28. The timeline on Madsen is 4-6 weeks. Saturday will mark four weeks since Madsen’s injury, but he is not believed to be near-ready for competition. Utah hosts USC on Saturday night at the Huntsman Center, before finishing the regular season March 4 at Colorado. The Pac-12 Tournament begins March 8 in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena.
“We’ll see what happens throughout the course of the week,” Smith said, speaking specifically about Worster, who is averaging 8.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists through 28 games. “I have zero expectation quite frankly. I’m not saying that can’t change, but I would be surprised.
“The message is, we might be different again, and there’s going to be some different guys that are going to have to do some different things and be in different roles. We, as coaches, need to evaluate everything, from who’s playing, your scheme, what are we going to do differently to beat UCLA and USC.”
Smith’s already-thin bench is about to get thinner. With Worster out most of the second half against Arizona State, sophomore guard Lazar Stefanovic, who has been starting in place of Madsen, took over most of the ball-handling duties, while intriguing freshman Wil Exacte played a season-high 22 minutes
Exacte has taken on a larger, more consistent role for most of the last month and would seem to be a reasonable option as the fifth starter alongside Stefanovic, Marco Anthony, Ben Carlson and Branden Carlson.
Smith could also choose to go with seldom-used point guard Mike Saunders Jr. Saunders Jr., a transfer from Cincinnati, has played a total of four minutes since Jan. 21.
“We’ve just had a lot of injuries over two years, and injuries are a part of the game, there’s no question about it, and our job is to have enough good players on the roster that no matter what happens, you’re ready to go. We’ve just had a lot of them, a ton of lower-leg injuries.
The chances for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament all but disappeared in the desert over the weekend, but Utah (17-11, 10-7 Pac-12) remains in a favorable position to wind up in the NIT in Smith’s second season. Based on various NIT bracketology projections, the Utes are currently in line for a top-4 seed and at least one home game. Utah has not been to the postseason since 2018, when it lost to Penn State in the NIT championship game at Madison Square Garden.
Smith is scheduled to conduct his weekly press conference on Tuesday morning at 11:30 a.m.
The Tribune will update this story.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/wjQ4Ao3
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