After appearing in two games following his rehabilitation of a knee injury, Georgia Tech guard Bubba Parham may not play again this season due to soreness in his knees. Yellow Jackets coach Josh Pastner made that declaration Monday on the ACC coaches teleconference.
After preseason surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, Parham returned to the court Jan. 2 against Louisville and played his second game two days later at Duke. He sat out of the Jackets’ home overtime loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night because of soreness in his knees. Pastner said that, checking in with Parham Sunday and again Monday, his condition hadn’t changed.
“It might have to be a situation – we’ll see as it progresses and with consultation with the doctors – that he might have to be shut down for the season,” Pastner said.
In a season that has gone downhill for the defending ACC champions – the Jackets are 6-8 overall and 0-4 in the ACC with seven losses in their past eight games – the continued absence of Parham is another hit. Parham, who came back after his senior season last year to use his extra year of eligibility, was expected to provide veteran guard play and scoring punch. Tech could direly use both as its offense has faltered, particularly from 3-point range, a specialty of the Brookwood High grad.
“Bubba’s been a key guy for us,” said Pastner, whose team plays at Boston College Wednesday. “Coming into the season, we were really counting on him considering what we lost from last year.”
Parham, who averaged 6.7 points per game last season as a part-time starter, suffered the injury when he was working on his shooting in a late-night workout and landed with most of his weight on his right leg.
“And I just felt something move, like I just felt like my meniscus tear,” Parham said last week. “It was crazy.”
Speaking on Friday, the day prior to the Notre Dame game, Parham sounded hopeful to continue playing and to give his teammates a boost.
“I feel like me coming back right now will be the best time, the more appropriate time for us to get this thing rolling and get some wins,” he said.
Parham had actually been cleared to play prior to the Dec. 18 game against USC, but then was sidelined by health and safety protocols and had to be quarantined for 10 days. After playing 15 minutes in his season debut against Louisville, Parham had knee soreness prior to the Duke game but told Pastner that he wanted to play, Pastner said last week. He played 27 minutes against the Blue Devils.
“He was cleared, and, just unfortunately, it’s just one of those things,” Pastner said. “He played a lot of minutes. But, obviously, the soreness of the knee is there.”
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