Thursday, Texas Tech basketball head coach Grant McCasland met with the media ahead of Saturday's game at Kansas. Of course, the main topic Red Raider fans wanted information on was the status of senior guard Chance McMillian and junior forward Darrion Williams.
Both missed the Red Raiders' 69-61 loss to Houston on Monday night with ankle or foot injuries. It was the second game in a row that McMillian missed and the second game of the season that Williams has missed.
Unfortunately, McCasland said that as of Thursday, neither had returned to full practice. He then detailed what he would need to see from both before feeling comfortable putting them back on the court in a game situation.
"Yeah, our hope in approaching this has been getting them ready to play every game, and neither one of them have practiced since the last game," he said. "I mean, we've had them around us, and they've been a part of practice but haven't been full going practice, and we'll need to see that before we we put them in a game, and so we'll see how it goes tomorrow, and that approach and that'll that'll determine, you know, what we look like for for Saturday's game, but it's hard to say, and it truly is a day to day, seeing if we can get them to feel, you know, confident and healthy, where, when they step out on the floor, they can actually be full, go competitive.
"And that's kind of what way we've approached it always. I will say their intent is to play Saturday. That from their perspective, I mean, I get the sense they're done watching. You know, now...whether we can get them full speed where they can feel confident about, everybody feels confident about their participation without it being a problem down the road that that's to be determined."
Without these two starters on the floor, the Red Raiders are obviously not the same team. That duo averages around 30 points and ten rebounds per game combined and taking that type of productivity away from the lineup is crippling.
What's more, Tech is a team that plays only eight players when everyone is healthy. Thus, when two starters are missing, that leaves just one sub for McCasland to turn to, Kevin Overton. Though the Red Raiders kept Monday's game against Houston close despite playing only six players, having that thin of a team is no way to survive in the Big 12 for long, especially when playing in Lawrence, where the Jayhawks are tough to beat.
Adding to the team's lack of depth is the fact that sophomore forward Eemeli Yalaho is also sidelined with an upper body injury. Though he has played in only eight games this season, he would likely be a player that got some run in Williams' spot if he was available.
Against Houston, all six Red Raiders that played logged 25 minutes or more. The five starters averaged 35 minutes between them. Christian Anderson played all 40 minutes while Elijah Hawkins played 38, and JT Toppin played 37. Meanwhile, the Houston starters averaged just 30.6 minutes, and none of the eight Cougars who played saw more than 35.
That was one reason that Tech seemed to wear down toward the end of the game. It is obvious that McCasland needs McMillian and Williams back as soon as possible, but that might not happen on Saturday.