TU notebook: Plagued by injuries
BY BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer
Thursday, January 03, 2013
1/03/13 at 4:06 AM
During Wednesday's 63-57 victory over the University of Buffalo, University of Tulsa forwards Rashad Smith and D'Andre Wright remained sidelined with leg injuries.
With seven minutes remaining in the opening half, while committing an offensive foul during a drive to the rim, Golden Hurricane guard Pat Swilling Jr. crashed to the court and appeared to have aggravated the left wrist that required offseason surgery.
And with one minute left to play, TU redshirt freshman forward Brandon Swannegan sustained a right-knee injury. Because of a stress-type of leg injury, he missed seven games earlier this season. Swilling reported that Swannegan's Wednesday injury may have been a dislocated kneecap.
"It's just the nature of how we play," Swilling said. "We play hard. We're going to have injuries. (Wright) should be back soon. Brandon's injury, they said he dislocated his kneecap. They said it's not that serious. He'll probably be out a game, maybe."
Tulsa coach Danny Manning would not divulge specifics on Swannegan injury, saying, "We'll wait on the medical report and go from there."
Swilling said his left wrist - which was fractured last year and did not heal properly, necessitating the surgery during the fall - was going to be X-rayed on Wednesday night or early Thursday.
Foul issues: If Smith, Wright and Swannegan are unable to play in Sunday's Conference USA opener at SMU, there would be additional pressure on TU interior players like Kauri Black and Zeldric King to avoid foul problems. That wasn't the case against Buffalo. During his first 10 minutes of action on Wednesday, Black had four fouls. King fouled out after 17 minutes.
During the Buffalo game, Smith and Wright were in uniform instead of in street clothes, but Manning said each player remains on a day-to-day basis with their injuries.
"We're looking forward to getting those guys back," Manning said, "(but) expectations don't change regardless of who we put out there on the court."
Associated Images:
Tulsa's Brandon Swannegan yells in pain after injuring his right knee against Buffalo on Wednesday night. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World
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