One of the more remarkable aspects of Texas Tech’s current 4-game winning streak in Big 12 play is that the Red Raiders have gone on a roll despite seeing star forward Darrion Williams slowed by an ankle injury. The junior rolled his ankle for the first time four games ago against Kansas State and then turned it again in another game just days later. Then, he rolled his other ankle in Sunday’s 64-54 win over Oklahoma State in Lubbock.
What made Sunday’s injury more concerning was that Williams did not return to the court as he did in the other two instances when he came down wrong on his ankle. Thus, head coach Grant McCasland was asked about the injury following the game.
“Yeah, well, the truth is, he didn’t come back in,” McCasland said. “So, I mean, we held him one, and two, he was walking on it. I mean, it wasn’t like in a boot or anything. So, I mean, that’s positive, and he didn’t seem down. He obviously wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t seem like he was distraught. I think it was a matter of fact, like, yeah, you know, I felt this one, and so enough that we felt like he wasn’t good for him to go back in there. So we’ll see.
“He’s been responding though. Well, I mean…I thought he was basically 100% going into this one, because it was the other ankle, and this one’s a little bit new, so I think he’s just always, he’s got, like, a little bit of a time frame where he’s trying to figure it out himself, and, you know, we’ll see. He’s responded well, though, and really done well in treatment. So I would anticipate him being able to go.”
It was obvious that Tech was not the same team when Williams was off the floor. When he went down with 7:22 to play, the Red Raiders were ahead 52-41. But in just over two mintues of game action, the Cowboys would cut that lead to just three points and for the remainder of the game, the Red Raiders looked sluggish and confused on offense when there was no Williams to turn to for critical buckets.
Also not helping matters was the fact that the team’s other star forward, JT Toppin, went to the bench with four fouls almost immediately after Williams exited. That meant that Tech had to play a lengthy stretch of the second half without either of its two leading scorers.
Though McCasland said that Williams was 100% heading into Sunday, it looked like he was still not back to being his old self thanks to his initial ankle injury. In 27 minutes against OSU, he scored only nine points on 3-11 shooting and missed a number of shots that Tech fans have come to expect him to make.
In fact, in the three games after he initially turned his ankle, Williams has yet to score in double figures. That has led many to surmise that he might not be playing at full strength.
Hopefully, the latest ankle injury for Williams is one that doesn’t linger. It was good to see that McCasland didn’t seem too concerned about it because this team must have Williams playing at a high level if it wants to reach its ceiling in Big 12 play and beyond.
Leave a Reply