Lawrence Returns to Practice

[Bearcat_NTS]

The boot is apparently, off per this article...

Jermaine Lawrence is close to making his return to the University of Cincinnati basketball team.

The 6-foot-9 freshman forward, who has not played since he suffered a turf toe injury on his left foot in the first half against Memphis on Jan. 4, was at practice Saturday without the protective boot that he has been wearing.

He won’t be on the Fifth Third Arena floor Sunday when the 13th-ranked Bearcats (20-2, 9-0 in the American Athletic Conference) face South Florida (11-10, 2-6) at noon, but it’s possible that he could return within a week.

“It doesn’t hurt as much as it used to,” Lawrence said. “It’s getting better day by day.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/...Lawrence-nears-return-after-month-long-injury

 

[#BearcatNation]

Would love for him to come back for the UConn game Thursday, or for the @ SMU game Saturday. Would be a huge plus to have him back for those tough games.

 

[Scheids21]

2 games in 3 days could be rough coming off an injury. It's great to hear his condition is improving and he is practicing again; as always, I trust the coaching staff to make the right decision.

 

[Scheids21]

Mick says Lawrence is probable for tomorrow nights game. Mind you he said last week his first game he'll likely get 5 minutes and maybe 10 his second game; great to hear though.

 

[mdchick]

Mick says Lawrence is probable for tomorrow nights game. Mind you he said last week his first game he'll likely get 5 minutes and maybe 10 his second game; great to hear though.

I dont see why he would only play 5 minutes, if thats the case then why not just keep resting him. we play uconn thurs and SMU saturday, just rest him those next two games and then we don't play again for another 6 days. If rest is the cure for this disease i would much rather him over rest, than risk him re-injuring his toe for 5 mins of play.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

I dont see why he would only play 5 minutes, if thats the case then why not just keep resting him. we play uconn thurs and SMU saturday, just rest him those next two games and then we don't play again for another 6 days. If rest is the cure for this disease i would much rather him over rest, than risk him re-injuring his toe for 5 mins of play.

It's not a disease...LOL

This is actually a very good scheduling scenario. Lawrence can be worked back into the rotation for 5-10 minutes in each game, which will help limit Rubles/Jackson's minutes before the one week break. It is also beneficial that there will be another one week break after the Louisville game, he should be as close to 100% as possible for the conference and NCAA tournaments.

 

[Scheids21]

I dont see why he would only play 5 minutes, if thats the case then why not just keep resting him. we play uconn thurs and SMU saturday, just rest him those next two games and then we don't play again for another 6 days. If rest is the cure for this disease i would much rather him over rest, than risk him re-injuring his toe for 5 mins of play.

UC doctors told Mick he needed to be eased back in.

 

[Bearcat04]

UC doctors told Mick he needed to be eased back in.

Plus you probably don't want a guy that hasn't played in a month taking additional time from JJ or Rubles in such a big game. I look for Mick to use him before TV timeouts to steal an extra minutes rest for one of the big guys. Plenty of time to work him back into the mix.

 

[bearcat jeff]

Plus you probably don't want a guy that hasn't played in a month taking additional time from JJ or Rubles in such a big game. I look for Mick to use him before TV timeouts to steal an extra minutes rest for one of the big guys. Plenty of time to work him back into the mix.

Would you rather have Big Dave or Lawrence on the floor for 5-10 minutes?

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

Would you rather have Big Dave or Lawrence on the floor for 5-10 minutes?

Considering it is a foot injury, Lawrence isn't going to be in shape conditioning wise. He is going to need to get eased into 5-10 minutes a game. Depending on how much UConn plays Brimah, Nyarsuk could be valuable in this game for a few minutes as well. I am afraid Rubles & Jackson are going to get into some foul trouble trying to cover Napier and Boatwright.

 

[bearcatz1]

Considering it is a foot injury, Lawrence isn't going to be in shape conditioning wise. He is going to need to get eased into 5-10 minutes a game. Depending on how much UConn plays Brimah, Nyarsuk could be valuable in this game for a few minutes as well. I am afraid Rubles & Jackson are going to get into some foul trouble trying to cover Napier and Boatwright.

I don't see Lawrence contributing any... he's not ready for college ball

 

[Bearcat04]

Would you rather have Big Dave or Lawrence on the floor for 5-10 minutes?

Of course I'd rather have Lawrence on the court. I was just pointing out why him playing 5 or so minutes isn't a bad thing. mdchick was wondering why he wouldn't play more minutes if he's cleared to play.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

I don't see Lawrence contributing any... he's not ready for college ball

He isn't ready to be a major contributor but he definitely can help the front court depth. He has shown flashes this season of the player he will be starting next year.

 

[#BearcatNation]

I don't see Lawrence contributing any... he's not ready for college ball

Wow, really? I get he's had some struggles, but you don't see a 5-star 6'10" recruit contributing ANY towards a frontcourt that only has one consistent contributor? Gimme a break.

 

[Btown Bearcat]

I don't see Lawrence contributing any... he's not ready for college ball

because of the injury? because hes already been a big contributor for us off the bench and best offensive rebounder on our team and he can score alot of different ways

 

[Not Guilty]

Since the Xavier loss, we were playing much better when we had Lawrence than we have since he got hurt:

We are 5-0 in games decided by 5 points or less this year (that is not sustainable). 4 of those games have come since Lawrence got hurt (3 on the road, 3 against the bad half of this league) and in 3 of those games we blew a big second half lead (19 @Houston, 19 @Temple, 17 @Louisville) and the other one came a couple of days after an extremely emotional and exhausting win over Louisville. Just a thought but maybe its because of fatigue. Our two most important defensive players are Titus and JJ. Without Lawrence, they have been asked to step up a lot. Getting them some help is really important.

Obviously its not like Lawrence was tearing it up before he got hurt. I think most would agree he was playing better before he got hurt against Memphis, but he didn't always seem comfortable, turned the ball over too much, and forced too many long 2's.

But the opportunity cost (for lack of a better term) of not having him means 1.) more minutes for JJ and Titus, which I don't think is sustainable and 2.) either Dave has to play or Shaq and Sanders have to play together, which makes us an even smaller team.

He won't be ready to play a too much the next 2 games, but he should be 100% by the time the next Louisville game gets here. That is very, very good news considering that starts a stretch of Louisville, @UCONN, Memphis. Also Mick mentioned in his press conference today its amazing what fresh legs will do for a player, which Lawrence has right now.

 

[Robert]

Lawrence's playing time depends mostly upon the foul situation.

Jackson and Rubles are very well conditioned athletes, and while I don't want to see either being ran into the ground, I think they're both capable of playing 32-34 minutes per night without ill effects. That leaves only about 12-16 minutes of playing time on a night when foul trouble isn't an issue, which may be split with Nyarsuk or Sanders depending on match-ups. So, in a perfect world, I think Lawrence plays about 12 minutes per game during the remaining conference games and postseason.

There are going to be nights though when Jackson picks up his 2nd foul early in the game (although it seems to be happening less lately, thankfully), so we will need 20 minutes from Lawrence on occasion.

 

[HoosierCat]

Wow, really? I get he's had some struggles, but you don't see a 5-star 6'10" recruit contributing ANY towards a frontcourt that only has one consistent contributor? Gimme a break.

You stole the words right out of my mouth. Lawrence was already starting to contribute solid minutes before he went down with the injury. No, he's not polished yet, but not ready at all??

 

[Bearcat22]

Wow, really? I get he's had some struggles, but you don't see a 5-star 6'10" recruit contributing ANY towards a frontcourt that only has one consistent contributor? Gimme a break.

I agree with you. JL was giving us some productive minutes. His 4-6 pts and 3-5 rebounds in limited minutes helped a lot. If a defender doesn't respect his mid-range jumper he'll knock it down. If they defend it then it opens the middle for JJ and TR - he's a good passer that will find them.

 

[waterhead]

Any news on how Lawrence's foot (toe) is feeling after 10 minutes of play against UCONN? Hopefully we can keep JJ and TR out of foul trouble so we can play him another 10 minutes and then come back and resume 18 or so after the week off.

I guess no news is good news on this one