Sigh of relief: Nebraska's Juwan Gary is only 'day-to-day' with a calf strain
After what appeared to be a worst-case scenario for Juwan Gary, Nebraska got arguably the best news possible on Friday.
Head coach Fred Hoiberg announced that Gary had only suffered a calf strain early in the second half of Wednesday night’s loss at Rutgers. At the time of the injury, fears had immediately jumped to a possible torn Achille’s tendon.
Instead, the junior forward will be “day-to-day” and should return to action sooner than later. Hoiberg did confirm that Gary would not play in Saturday’s home game vs. Northwestern.
“We feel very fortunate about where things are with him,” Hoiberg said. “It’s a calf strain, and it’s going to be a day-to-day injury. He feels significantly better today than he did yesterday. It was a very scary situation for Juwan. I think everybody saw it was a non-contact injury, and he felt a ‘pop’ and obviously thought the worst.
“He was very sore and couldn’t put much pressure on it at that time. Our trainer, Andrew McCabe, did an initial evaluation on him and really felt like the Achille’s was intact. But we wanted to get a scan just to make sure on it.
“He still has quite a bit of soreness in the calf, so he will not play tomorrow (vs. Northwestern), and we’ll just take it day by day. If he continues to show the same progress that he’s shown the last 48 hours, then hopefully, we’ll get him back on the court soon. I’m not going to put a timeframe on it, but we’ll just call it day-to-day.”
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Nebraska will need all hands on deck while Gary is out
Gary’s eventual return is significant news for the Huskers’ postseason hopes, as the former Alabama transfer is arguably their most versatile all-around player.
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After moving into the starting lineup eight games ago, the 6-foot-6, 215-pounder averages 11.7 points on a team-best 52% shooting. He’s also second in rebounding (5.8 rpg) and leads NU in offensive boards (40), steals (1.2 spg), and blocked shots (0.9 bpg).
In his absence, Hoiberg admitted that one player wouldn’t replicate all of what Gary brought to the lineup. Instead, Nebraska will need all hands on deck until he’s back in the mix.
That will include freshmen Eli Rice and Matar Diop seeing expanded minutes and C.J. Wilcher playing more at the four.
“It’s not going to be one guy, it’s going to be by committee with replacing what Juwan gives us,” Hoiberg said. “Obviously, we’re going to have lineups out there where we’re big. Rienk (Mast) and Jo (Allick) have played significant minutes together, especially early in the season when Juwan was out…
“Those guys have shown some poise out there, and again, it’s going to have to be by committee until Juwan gets back on the court.”
