Every Texas Tech basketball fan wants to know whether or not the Red Raiders will have Chance McMillian for Thursday’s Sweet 16 game against Arkansas.
McMillian has missed each of the last three games with an upper-body injury.
He and head coach Grant McCasland said during the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament that McMillian had been progressing through his injury. However, the nature of the injury, a strained oblique, doesn’t allow much give and take. He’s either available or he’s not.
Speaking on the dais an hour before McCasland, Arkansas head coach John Calipari said he’s been told that McMillian will be playing for the Red Raiders on Thursday, forcing Calipari to do some extra film work on Tech’s third-leading scorer.
During Texas Tech’s portion of the press conferences inside the Chase Center, McMillian joined JT Toppin and Darrion Williams on the dais but wouldn’t go so far as to confirm his status for Thursday.
“I’m getting better day-by-day,” McMillian said. “In the training room, doing a lot of pool workouts, breaking workouts, because I strained my oblique pretty bad, but my goal is to play tomorrow.”
McMillian was a second-team all-Big 12 selection this season after averaging career highs in points (14.2) and rebounds (4.1) per game, shooting 52.5% from the field and 43.4% from 3-point range.
McCasland said the decision for McMillian to play or not is out of his hands, but does feel like they’re getting closer to his return to the floor.
