As Egbunu Inches Closer to Return, Season Rolls on for Undersized Gators

Saturday, December 16

Sunrise, FL

4:30 PM

Florida Gators

Clemson

John Egbunu has been sidelined since last Feb. 14, but his rehab from a season-ending knee injury is in its latter stages.

As Egbunu Inches Closer to Return, Season Rolls on for Undersized Gators

Saturday, December 16, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

No. 22 takes on Clemson in Saturday's latest trip to the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

SUNRISE, Fla. — The chartered buses from the Florida basketball complex made the 310-mile trek here Friday. Center John Egbunu was not along for the five-hour ride. He didn't make the cross-country trip last month to Portland, Ore., either.

Tight spaces for extended periods of time might make Egbunu's knee swell.

Egbunu, instead, stayed back in Gainesville, but got a workout in early Friday before the team pulled out of town. Coach Mike White would liked to have the 6-foot-11, 255-pound center along for the ride — better yet, on the floor when the No. 22 Gators (6-3) take on Clemson (8-1) in Saturday's Metro PCS Orange Bowl Classic at BB&T Center — but there is a plan in place for the big man who suffered a season-ending knee injury last Feb. 14. Right now, it's proceeding very well and UF trainer David "Duke" Werner wants to keep things that way.

"He's made tremendous strides the past six weeks," Werner said. "I think he made some progress in the weight room with some squatting and lower body stuff that really started him pushing some weight and getting some confidence back that carried over onto the floor."

Since undergoing surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn medial meniscus in his left knee last March, the timeline for Egbunu's return has always been January. That's two weeks away, but the realistic projection for Egbunu's 2017-18 debut is sometime in late-January, perhaps even early February.

When's he's ready.

And not before.

"For me, I take it one day at a time, and not try to get too ahead of myself," Egbunu said Thursday after a rigorous 35-minute session on the court, working on ball drills, lateral movement, low-post offensive moves and shooting, with assistant coach Darris Nichols. "It's a day-to-day thing. I had a good workout today and I'll have another one tomorrow and just go from there."

Eventually, the workouts will give way to some one-and-one, then some two-and-two, then some pick-up games with the coaches and managers, then non-contact clearance for practice, all of it closely monitored by Werner.

"It feels stable now, which makes me more confident," Egbunu said.

UF center John Egbunu is helped off the floor by head trainer David "Duke" Werner and Coach Mike White last Feb. 14 at Auburn, where he suffered tears to the anterior cruciate ligament and lateral meniscus in his left knee.

When the injury first occurred last Valentine's Day at Auburn, the Gators were playing some of their best basketball of the 2016-17 season, in the midst of what became a nine-game winning streak. Not coincidentally, Egbunu was playing his best basketball, as well. The game before the injury, he had a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) against Texas A&M and its monstrous front line.

Then tragedy struck.

"The shock, the emotions that come with hearing the news and knowing you have to go in for surgery and everything that happens after that … that was the low point," Egbunu said. "It's a long process. For me, I just followed the instructions I was given, whatever Duke said I had to do, and just tried to stay the course."

There have been setbacks along the way, mostly with bouts of swelling that slowed down the rehab process. Those were were normal, but didn't make them any less frustrating, especially over the summer when teammates were training and improving.

Then fall practice began and things perked up.

"Once we started playing games, it just seemed like he turned his workout level and energy level up a notch," Nichols said. "It was like, 'OK, we're into the season now,' and there was an excitement to that, whereas in the preseason he was just trying to get through it all. Now, he sees game. These kids live for the games. He's definitely more excited than he was a month ago."

Probably more anxious, too, given how the Florida season has gone.

Minus Egbunu, as well as freshman center/forward Isaiah Stokes (reconstructive knee surgery last January), freshman forward Chase Johnson (out the last five games with lingering illnesses) and up-and-down status of sophomore center Gorjok Gak (chronic knee soreness), UF is significantly shorthanded in the post. The Gators have countered by trying to play "small ball," but the lack of size has been exposed by some very good low-post players. Clemson power forward Elijah Thomas, averaging 12 points, better than eight rebounds and shooting 71 percent from the floor, figures to be a handful Saturday.

Obviously, Egbunu would help up front, but even when he does return — for those tracking, Florida is home to Baylor on Jan. 27, at Georgia on Jan. 30, then back home vs. Alabama and LSU the first week of February — initial expectations need to be tempered. He won't be the Egbunu who has averaged 10 points, 6.2 rebounds and carved a reputation as one of the nation's elite rim-protectors since transferring to UF by way of South Florida in 2014.

"Most [doctors] will tell you this is a 12-to-14-month deal," Werner said. "Now, can they come back and play before that? Yes. But that doesn't mean that John will be the version of John before his injury. Doesn't work like that. With this contact sport, and the running, the jumping, twisting and sprinting up and down — it's hard. Not to mention, he's 6-11 and 250 pounds."

But his work to date has been encouraging.

When healthy, the 6-11, 255-pound John Egbunu is an elite rim-protector and one of the best low-post defenders in the country.

When Nichols, who coaches the UF post players, first got his center back on the floor last month, Egbunu went up and dunked the ball, but hung on the goal a few seconds.

"He was scared to let go of the rim. Remember, the way he got hurt was landing on it," Nichols said. "But now, he's overcome that fear of landing. That was a big first step. Now, you just have to keep building confidence and keep adding things he can do that will build that confidence."

He did that Friday, which got him to Saturday, which nudged him even closer to that late-January/early February target.

"Going through something like this, you learn a lot about yourself, especially about how you react when adversity hits," Egbunu said. "It tests your character. You get to see what kind of dude you are."

Ask the Gators and they'll tell you "Big John" is one of the most popular players in the locker room. Not to mention the biggest (and best down in the paint).

Think his teammates will welcome him back?

"What?" junior guard Jalen Hudson asked when the (obviously rhetorical) question was put his way. "He'll just change the game, that's all."

Maybe eventually, but not right away.

"We know it will take some time," senior forward Egor Koulechov said. "John's our teammate and our friend and we all just want him to get healthy and get back soon 'cause everybody knows he is a big piece of this puzzle."

Until then, the bus rolls on.