With 26 games under its belt and five left until the Southeastern Conference tournament, Texas men’s basketball has almost reached the top of the mountain of its first season in the SEC.
But before they reach the summit, the Longhorns get a week to recover from their trek. They have had setbacks, from injuries to losses against unranked teams like Vanderbilt, and need the respite that comes with a bye week before their final push.
“I don’t know if there’s any other team in the league that needs this bye as much as we do,” head coach Rodney Terry said after the Kentucky win on Saturday. “I mean, we’ve been pretty banged up in this conference, playing in this physical league. Every game, we’ve got somebody that’s got something going on.”
Against fierce SEC competition this season, injuries have racked up on the roster. The Longhorns played nine games against ranked opponents this season. Each game has been physically challenging, with eight two-possession wins and losses.
“Guys get to recover their bodies, physically (and) mentally, hit the reset button from the games, so we can give it all we got in this last stretch,” graduate forward Jayson Kent said.
Kent has already felt the toll of a collegiate basketball season in the SEC, sitting out for eight games early in the season with a wrist injury. Freshman guard Tre Johnson was also out for several games with a right hip injury early in the season.
Most recently, sophomore forward Devon Pryor has been struggling through the past few weeks with a right calf strain. Senior forward Arthur Kaluma was injured in the game against Alabama, putting the team’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer on the bench. While Kent has picked up the slack and made big plays against Kentucky, the team hasn’t had all its top 10 players available to go on the court in recent match-ups.
“We’ve only had one conference game where we’ve had our top 10 players available to play,” Terry said. “So, we’re excited about, hopefully, having all our guys at some point. But I give our guys a lot of credit. They continue to persevere. They continue to work the game.”
The team got two full days off after its game against Kentucky before getting back to practice.
Texas returns on Saturday against South Carolina and junior guard Chendall Weaver, who has been out with a left hip injury for most of the season, will potentially return to the court for the first time since Auburn on Jan. 7.
While he hasn’t returned to full practice with the team yet, Weaver has practiced individually and is close to coming back on the court.
“He’s in a better position right now,” Terry said. “We won’t ever put him out in a position where he can’t play to his full capacity or that he doesn’t have the comfort level to play the way he plays. He’s one of those guys that’s an extra effort player and super athletic. It’s what makes him the player that he is.”
