Jamal Shead injury update: Kelvin Sampson confirms Houston guard suffered a grade four ankle sprain

More bad news on Jamal Shead’s injury came following Houston’s 54-51 loss to Duke in the Sweet 16. Head coach Kelvin Sampson confirmed the guard suffered a grade four ankle sprain.

With the season over, Houston will look at treatment options for Shead. It’s expected to be over a month of recovery.

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Not to mention it really hurt the Cougars after halftime, who fell just short to the Blue Devils.

“Grade four sprain,” Sampson said of Shead postgame. “He is probably going to be out four to six weeks. That was a really tough locker room at halftime.

“It didn’t take a lot to convince those kids that we could still win. That’s just kind of what we’ve done all year. We’ve dealt with this all year. As far as answering your question what did it mean ultimately, he is a first team All American. He is a Big 12 Player of the Year. He’s a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. He’s the heart and soul of this team.”

As Sampson alluded to, Shead made the engine go that was Houston’s basketball team.

“I doubt any team in America has — maybe Edey from Purdue — that means as much to their team as Jamal means to this team,” Sampson said. “There’s just not another Jamal. He was the best player on the floor tonight. He’s been the best player on the floor every game we’ve played this year except a few.

“We got a 1 seed because of his leadership, his toughness, his ability to make everybody better. We didn’t have another — we don’t have another Jamal. You say, well, who is your point guard to replace Jamal? We don’t have a point guard to replace Jamal. Those guys are — we’ve had guys to go in and rest him, but get him back in. Sometimes that’s just God’s work. It just wasn’t our time.”

Despite losing Shead, Sampson felt pride in his team, nearly snatching a victory in the end.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our team, though,” Sampson said. “We’re still in a position to win the game. We held that team to 54 points. Second-chance points, they were plus 2. Points off turnovers, we were plus 5. Fastbreak points, they had none. We had two.

“We had some plays that I wish we would have made that we certainly could have made. We were in a position to win the game without Jamal. With Jamal, it’s a totally different story, but that’s neither here nor there, is it? Proud of my kids. Resilient, tough, just like they’ve been all year. My disappointment came not just in losing, but not being able to coach them tomorrow. I love coaching this team. I really did. This is an unbelievable group of young men.”