In what appears to be a case of too little, too late, it looks like Xavier Johnson will have a chance to finish his college career where he wants to be: on the court.
Johnson injured his left elbow during a home game against Iowa on January 30. Since then, he has commonly been seen wearing a brace on his elbow, but at Penn State on Saturday he was without one. It was the first sign that Johnson was trending back, and the next clue came today through head coach Mike Woodson.
“He did some stuff on the floor yesterday (Sunday). There wasn't a lot of contact,” Woodson told the media via Zoom Monday morning. “So I'm going to go and talk to Tim (IU trainer girl) today and see where he is.”
Johnson injured his elbow late in the win over the Hawkeyes when he fell hard to the floor after attempting a dunk. IU has only won one game since then.
Johnson is averaging 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists this season while shooting 40.7 percent from the field.
Indiana is 8-6 in games Johnson has played in and 6-7 in games he has missed.
If he returns, it would be the third time in the past four months that Johnson has returned from an injury.
He played in the first six games this season after breaking his foot at Kansas in December 2022. However, Johnson missed seven games after sustaining a stress fracture in his other leg against Harvard on Nov. 26. He returned against Nebraska on January 3 and appeared in all eight games in January before injuring his elbow.
Currently, only four regular season games and the Big Ten Tournament remain in Johnson's college career.
“I know he wants to play in the worst possible way and time is running out, so I feel for him in that respect,” Woodson said. “I'm going to follow his lead. I don't like playing when there's some kind of contact when players aren't practicing.
“We're going to find out more today (Monday) and see where he is in terms of wanting to play. At the time of the injury, they told him four to six weeks to seven weeks. I know he did, but I think he's about four weeks now. So today we're going to see how he felt after running around a little bit yesterday and go from there. That's all we can do.”
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