Good thing for Northwestern that its Big Ten opener is not until Friday at No. 12 Purdue.
The left ankle injury that knocked John Shurna out of Thursday’s victory over Mount St. Mary’s is severe enough that he has not been able to practice. He was limited to jogging and shooting Tuesday morning.
“He’s not jumping now,” Wildcats coach Bill Carmody said. “He’s a pretty tough kid, and hopefully he’ll able to do more (Wednesday). By Thursday, we should know. But I don’t want to guess. I just leave it up to the trainers.”
Carmody said the injury is at the “ball” of the ankle, and “these things can linger or fade away.”
For that reason, Carmody said, he must think long-term. Shurna is the nation’s eighth-leading scorer, at 23.3 points per game and ranks second nationally with a 62.3 shooting percentage from 3-point land.
The Wildcats (9-1) will be decided underdogs on the road against an 12-1 Purdue team that is limiting opponents to 38.2 percent shooting. NU’s next game is at home against Michigan State on Jan. 3, three days later.
Asked if he thinks long-term on injuries, Carmody replied: “With (Shurna), I do. … I have to take that into consideration.”
Following NU’s general policy regarding injured players, the school declined to make Shurna available Tuesday. Point guard Juice Thompson said Shurna is “acting like he’s not hurt. … I think he’ll be fine.”
Freshman JerShon Cobb is also not 100 percent after landing hard on his back while going up for a driving layup against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden last week.
Cobb didn’t play Thursday against Mount St. Mary’s and Carmody said because of soreness he “practiced at half speed” on Tuesday.
A day before taking the big hit, Cobb hit both of his 3-point tries against St. Francis (N.Y.) in an 11-point effort.
