Texas will open its season Monday night against Chicago State in Austin, but one of the Longhorns’ expected frontcourt reserves will have to wait a little longer to get back on the floor.
Head coach Sean Miller said Friday that forward John Clark has been sidelined by a broken bone in his hand, an injury he picked up in practice a few weeks ago. Clark has now missed the last three weeks, which explains why he was absent from Texas’ exhibition against St. John’s last weekend.
“John broke a bone in his hand,” Miller said. "...
He has crossed the three-week mark. ... He's really missed the last three weeks.
But it just happened in practice. He went up to block a shot, hit his hand."
The good news for Texas is that Clark is back around the team and doing non-contact work. Miller said the freshman could be cleared as soon as Thursday, which would put him in line to return against Gardner-Webb after missing the opener.
"He's been out. He's now rejoined our team, and he can do non-contact things," Miller said of Clark.
"We think John could be cleared to play as soon as this Thursday. So he'll have a month behind him."
Clark redshirted last season and did not appear in a game, but he was expected to take on a reserve role in the frontcourt this year. His recovery now becomes one of the early injury storylines as Texas begins the regular season.
There’s also a little more context to Clark’s situation from last season. In an interview during March Madness, he said his redshirt decision was tied to a hand injury he had been dealing with since high school. It’s not clear whether this latest issue involves the same hand or the same type of injury.
"I would say what led to redshirting, just me coming off injury in high school, hand injury, it set me back and put me behind and the redshirt was the best thing for me to do, being behind and just learning from other guys and their experience," Clark said.
Clark had originally committed to Rodney Terry, but after the coaching change, Miller and his staff reached out and built a relationship that kept him in Austin.
"Initially, I was committed to (Rodney Terry) and whenever he got fired, Coach Miller and the staff reached out," Clark said. "They always had open arms since they had the position here. So, you know, just them being open to trusting in me to be on the team."
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