•OSU journal: Solomon’s status is questionable
Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford had to laugh, although without any trace of humor.
In a season marred by injuries and illness, the Cowboys arrived at the Big 12 Tournament with yet another ailing player, after starting forward Mitchell Solomon sprained an ankle during practice Monday in Stillwater.
Solomon was simply back-pedaling, stumbled and collapsed on the ankle. And his availability for Wednesday night’s game against Kansas State is now in question.
“Total game-time decision,” said Ford said following Tuesday’s brief practice at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. “If we had to play today, he would not play.
“Whoever laces them up tomorrow, that’s who we’ll put in. Whether he’s out there or not, we literally will not know before game time. It’s pretty sore today.”
The Cowboys are already without starting guards Phil Forte and Jawun Evans. Jeff Carroll, another starting guard, remains day-to-day battling an ongoing illness. Forward Leyton Hammonds is playing with a taped right index finger, which was dislocated 11 days ago in a game against West Virginia.
And Solomon just recently started playing without tape on his right hand injured Feb. 15 at Kansas.
GAME TIME AIDED HAMMONDS
After Hammonds dislocated his finger early against West Virginia, he turned down several shots, taking just five in 16 minutes overall.
Then he didn’t even play at Iowa State, deciding in the pregame shootaround that he wasn’t good to go.
Saturday, it wasn’t much better before the Cowboys faced Texas, although he did play, making his first four shots and finishing with 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting.
“In the shootaround right before the game, I couldn’t make a shot,” Hammonds said. “I was trying to get used to my finger, because basically my index finger is all my power in my shot. That’s how I’ve been trained all my life, use my thumb and index finger. So I had to adjust during shootaround. And it wasn’t working.
“But once I got in the game and got my rhythm going, the baskets kept falling for me.”
QUOTABLE
Cowboys senior Jeff Newberry on his time at OSU: “The positive, just being able to play in the best league every night. I didn’t really know what the Big 12 was. When I signed here, I knew what it was, but I didn’t know it was as tough as it is. It’s a great feeling. I can’t really find any negatives. We didn’t win as many games as we wanted to in conference this year. That’s probably the only negative. That would be a negative for any team. I just take it with a grain of salt. And through all of it, I feel like it made the younger guys stronger and better for next year and it made me better as a person moving on in life.”