Memphis G Hunter (foot) out for NCAA opener

Mar 20, 2025, 04:48 PM ET SEATTLE– Memphis won’t be at complete strength entering into Friday’s first-round NCAA tournament match against Colorado State with Tyrese Hunter still out with the left foot injury he suffered throughout the AAC semifinals.Memphis head coach Cent Hardaway said Thursday he didn’t have an update on his first-team All-AAC guard. However minutes before, Hunter informed press reporters he would not be playing and he invested the Tigers ‘open practice duration on the bench in a walking boot.Editor’s Picks 1 Related”I believe since we took care of business in the conference competition, we prepared ourselves to be

much more all set

to adapt to anything, due to the fact that we had a week off before we played,” Hardaway said.” Now, with the brief turn-around … we ‘d actually had a lot of time to put in a great deal of things because we had currently dealt with ourselves.” Hunter did not appear in Memphis’AAC champion win over UAB after getting injured in the semifinal versus Tulane. Sophomore Baraka Okojie made his first career start in the title game, ending up with 5 points and 4 assists.Hunter had started all however one game this season, balancing 13.4 points per game. His only other absence, on Feb. 9 versus Temple, ended a streak of 129 straight starts dating back to his freshman year at Iowa State and continuing through sophomore and junior projects at Texas.Hardaway had somewhat more concrete news on Dante Harris, who hasn’t played since March 4 with an ankle injury, stating he started running once again Tuesday. However Harris also viewed Thursday’s practice from the sidelines.The unpredictable circumstance leaves the Tigers with three backcourt combinations for Colorado State to prepare for. “Of course, it’s constantly simpler when you know 100 %who’s going to play and who’s not going to play, but I don’t believe it alters it a lot,” CSU coach Niko Medved

said.”Coach Hardaway does such a fantastic task with his guys.”