With the Texas Tech basketball team dealing with injuries to both senior guard Chance McMillian and junior forward Darrion Williams, the story for the Red Raiders is whether either will play against No. 14 seed UNC Wilmington tonight in Wichita, Kansas. Wednesday, as the Red Raiders met with the media ahead of the start of the NCAA Tournament, we got updates on both players. One update was better than the other.
Williams gave the Red Raider faithful news that they wanted to hear. He said without hesitation that he will play against the Seahawks.
"Yeah, I'm feeling good. I'll be out there tomorrow," he said.
This year, Williams has missed three games for the Red Raiders due to a nagging ankle sprain that he can't keep from aggravating. One of those missed games was Tech's most recent contest, a loss to Arizona in the Big 12 tournament semifinals last Friday.
Thus far, the Red Raiders are just 1-2 without Williams on the floor. They did beat Oklahoma State in Lubbock when he sat out but fell to Houston in Lubbock and Arizona in Kansas City in games he missed.
As for McMillian, the news is less certain. According to head coach Grant McCasland, McMillian is a game time decision.
"Chance is going to be closer to a game-time decision," he said. We are confident that at some point we'll get him back. Just hopeful it's sooner rather than later."
McMillian also missed three of Tech's 33 games this season due to a foot injury and an upper-body injury sustained in the Big 12 Tournament. Like Williams, he sat out against Arizona in the Big 12 Tournament. Additionally, he missed the February 24th home game against Houston and the February 22nd home game against West Virginia. Tech was 1-2 in those games as well.
Without McMillian, Tech has averaged just 71.3 points per game, nearly nine below their season average. Without Williams on the floor, Tech put up just 68.3 points per game. And in the two games both missed, Tech put up only 70.5 points.
Therefore, it is easy to see how important these Red Raiders are to their team's success. Between them, they average around 30 points per game and they are the second and third-leading scorers on the roster.
Hopefully, McMillian will be able to join Williams in the lineup today because Tech needs to be at full strength now that the Big Dance has arrived. However, we won't know if that will happen until close to tip-off.