Auburn opened preseason practice Wednesday without one of its biggest new additions on the floor.
Creighton transfer Owen Freeman, the former Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is still being held out as he works back from a foot injury that slowed him through much of the summer. Steven Pearl said Freeman is moving in the right direction, but he won’t be full go just yet.
“Right now, no,” Pearl said when asked if Freeman is 100% to start preseason practice Wednesday. “He's probably got another couple weeks before he's able to go full weight-bearing on the floor.”
Freeman also sat out Auburn’s two-game trip to Greece last month. Vanderbilt transfer guard George Kimble III missed that action as well, though Pearl said Kimble is now back to full strength. Freeman, Pearl later added, is “out” at the moment.
Still, the update wasn’t bleak. Pearl said Freeman is working in the weight room and training room and making steady progress toward a return.
“He's doing things in the weight room and the training room - and he's progressing and making really good progress,” Pearl said of Freeman. “He's right on schedule.
Doctors are really happy with where he's at right now. Each week we'll continue to progress him back and more towards 100%.”
Freeman’s path has been marked by injuries for several years now. He burst onto the scene at Iowa, where he averaged 12.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game as a Hawkeye, but a finger injury ended his sophomore season early. After transferring to Creighton with the expectation that he would replace All-American center Ryan Kalkbrenner, he then suffered a knee injury last offseason while playing pickup basketball in his hometown of Bradley, Illinois.
That setback kept him from starting basketball activities with Creighton until just before the season, and he wound up averaging only 12 minutes per game.
“This year was used as a learning opportunity to figure out who I am, and that I can do hard things,” Freeman said earlier this offseason. “This year didn't go as planned in any way, whether it was injuries or when I was out there (at Creighton).”
Now Freeman enters a very different situation at Auburn, where the frontcourt has been completely turned over. All four players who started at forward or center for the Tigers last season are gone, and Auburn has rebuilt the size in that group with Freeman, Santa Clara transfer Bukky Oboye, and Narcisse Ngoy, a 7-footer and former French professional who was drafted No. 57 overall by the Los Angeles Clippers but will instead come to Auburn.
Because Freeman can play both the 4 and 5 spots, Auburn has the option to use bigger lineups this season.
The Tigers will work through three exhibitions before their season opener Nov. 4 against Southeast Louisiana, including a game in Birmingham against rival Alabama.
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