Kendall Marshall Injury Update: All Signs Point to Tar Heels PG Missing Sweet 16

The North Carolina Tar Heels road to the Final Four is going to be bumpier than originally planned.

Point Guard Kendall Marshall had successful wrist surgery on his right wrist Monday and needed a screw inserted into the scaphoid bone. He is officially listed as “questionable” by the athletic department.

The one silver-lining for the Tar Heels is the injury was to his non-shooting hand. When Marshall fell on the wrist with just under 11 minutes to play on Sunday against Creighton, he didn’t come out of the game. The sophomore logged another 7:30 to finish with 18 points, 11 assists for his second consecutive double-double.

His dad Dennis Marshall spoke with the Associated Press about the injury after the surgery and didn’t sound very optimistic about his son playing on Friday in the Sweet Sixteen against No. 13 Ohio University:

"

I don't know because Kendall's just coming out of his anesthesia, we haven't talked and I don't know how he'll feel four days from now. We just don't know.

Is it impossible he plays this weekend? No, it's not. Is it likely he plays next weekend? It definitely is. It's something we just don't know.

"

Sounds like his dad who is looking a little too far down the line. The Tar Heels have to win two games before talking about next week and you can bet coach Roy Williams isn’t looking that far ahead. He sounds like a guy who knows the news isn’t good (via ESPN):

"

We can talk all we want to, 'if this' and 'if that' ... and that's just a bunch of damn waste of time. There's nothing else to talk about until we find out what the [expletive] is going on, and then we'll talk about it.

My guess is -- purely a guess -- that he will not play. But as I said, we're uncertain.

"

It makes sense. Having a splint on your hand while trying to dribble or shoot is an incredibly difficult task and getting on the court a mere four days after a major procedure like this would be nothing short of miraculous.

It’s a huge blow for a Tar Heel team that needs Marshall as their floor general. On top of being one of the top assist men in the nation, Marshall had come on very strong in the scoring department of late. In the first 30 games of the season he averaged 6.8 points while shooting 42.4 percent, in the last six games he has upped those numbers to 14.8 and 58.3 percent.

They should be just fine against an Ohio team that lacks the incredible size of the Tar Heels frontline. But a potential date with No. 2 Kansas looms. That’s when Marshall’s presence will truly be missed.

We will likely not know for sure if Marshall can play until right around tipoff, but as of Tuesday it sounds like he’ll be sitting out against the Bobcats. After that it’s anybody’s guess. 

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