Update on Donnie Freeman’s status: ‘We do expect him back fairly soon’
Donnie Freeman missed his seventh straight game with an injury Wednesday but participated in warmups for the first time in nearly a month. Courtesy of Evan Harrington | The Newshouse
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For the first time in nearly a month, Donnie Freeman was on the court warming up with his teammates. He wore Nike shoes with pink laces, did some side shuffles with his teammates, participated in layup lines and jogged around the court.
But the sophomore forward, who averaged a team-high 17.8 points across Syracuse’s first four games, still needs more time before he’s available for games.
“We do expect him back fairly soon,” head coach Adrian Autry said postgame. “I know it sounds like a broken record, I just, I really just don’t know.”
It sounds like a broken record because, for a month between suffering an injury last season and SU announcing Freeman would miss the remainder of the year, Autry labeled him as “day-to-day.” Now 44 games into his collegiate career, Freeman has played in just 18 contests.
Autry declined to say exactly what Freeman is dealing with, citing it as a “lower-body” injury. Freeman has previously been seen wearing a boot on his right foot but hasn’t worn it on the court since the Orange were in Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival.
When Freeman was limited to 14 games as a freshman, his mother, Darshelle, told The Daily Orange in October he underwent toe surgery, during which a screw was inserted.
Darshelle said her son has had previous issues with his right foot for several years and was playing through pain for “a very long time.” Before the season, she said Freeman was back to 100% and the healthiest he’s been since high school.
While Kiyan Anthony noted Freeman has been practicing for “about a week,” the freshman said he’s been going through non-contact drills. Autry added that Freeman hasn’t played any 5-on-5 and still needs to improve his conditioning.
“As far as, the full court change of directions, sliding his feet, he’s not really all the way there yet, but he’s making a lot of progress,” Anthony said. “Whenever we have him back, it’ll be great.”
