Lamont Paris provides good news on freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles
South Carolina freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles is inching closer to making his return to basketball.
After contracting mononucleosis over a month ago, Murray-Boyles has made some good progress, according to head coach Lamont Paris.
“I’m no doctor, I don’t know if you knew that or not, but he has been cleared to start doing some things at practice,” Paris said.
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A four-star recruit from Columbia, SC, Murray-Boyles was the highest-rated freshman that Paris signed for this year. Standing at 6-foot-7 and 231 pounds, he averaged 15 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 blocks and one steal per game as a senior at Wasatch Academy (UT).
The hope coming into this year was that he would play a big role on the floor. But those plans took a hit with the illness.
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But now to be making some strides, it has made Paris very happy.
“Imagine having basketball not be a part of your life as a freshman in college and you have these expectations,” Paris said. So I’m just happy that he can get out and practice with us now. So that’s on the road to recovery.”
Paris said Wednesday will be the first day that Murray-Boyles can participate in practice with the team. Doctors cleared him to do “full go stuff in the full court and in the half court.”
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While it’s a step in the right direction, there’s still some work to do he has to do first. In his time with mono, Murray-Boyles has lost a lot of body weight. So he’ll have to regain some of his mass as he continues to practice with the team.
If he can get his strength back, he could be in line to see game action with the Gamecocks.
“As he continues to get better physically and get more acclimated into things, we’ll eventually be able to sprinkle them into some games, hopefully sometime soon,” Paris said. “He’s a great kid, he’s a good player. The question will be how long it takes him to get back to where he was pre-mono, which was playing at a high level at that point.”
