KNOXVILLE — Chad Newman has seen plenty of sprained ankles over the course of his 15 years as a basketball trainer at Tennessee.
“Too many,” the Chattanooga native joked after Thursday’s practice. “We actually have been pretty lucky with in-season injuries over the years, [but] two in one week is a lot.”
The Volunteers’ two primary offensive threats sprained ankles three days apart last week. Freshman forward Tobias Harris rolled his 13 days ago in the second half of UT’s win at Ole Miss, and guard Scotty Hopson then hurt his by coming down on a teammate’s foot in practice.
Though Harris didn’t miss any games and Hopson returned for Tuesday’s loss at Kentucky after missing two games, the bum wheels deserve to be watched as UT (15-9, 5-4 SEC) heads down the season’s final month toward the postseason.
“Everything depends on how intense or how severe they are,” Newman said, “but when you get into a season, any ankle injury drags on if you’re playing on it, ’cause you just don’t have time to get fully 100 percent.