Mark Pope Provides Injury Update On BYU Basketball Guard Te’Jon Lucas
Feb 8, 2022, 5:36 PM
Brigham Young Cougars guard Te'Jon Lucas (3) celebrates a 3-pointer in Provo on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
PROVO, Utah – BYU basketball standout Te’Jon Lucas participated in practice on Tuesday, days after missing the Cougars game against Gonzaga.
Until last week, the grad transfer guard from Milwaukee has been a fixture in BYU’s starting lineup. However, during the loss against San Francisco last Thursday, a player landed on Lucas’ head, causing some head and neck pain. Forcing Pope to go with a different starting five against the Zags.
BYU basketball coach Mark Pope updated the injury status of his star guard, who is the second-leading scorer on this BYU squad, averaging 10.4 points per game.
#BYU guard Te’Jon Lucas was in a lot of practice today. Didn’t practice on Monday.
Mark Pope on Lucas’ availability for Thursday against LMU: “We’ll see.”#BYUHoops @kslsports pic.twitter.com/mNmBSIoGrE
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) February 8, 2022
“He was in a lot of practice today. So, we’ll see how he feels in the next hour or two. But I’m hopeful. So we’ll see,” said Pope when asked if Lucas will be ready to go on Thursday night against Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles.
The presence of Lucas is needed for a BYU team that is currently on a four-game losing streak, which has suddenly caused them to become an NCAA Tournament bubble team. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has BYU as one of the “Last Four In” in the field of 68.
Tuesday was Lucas’ first practice this week. According to Pope, he was held out of practice on Monday.
“We just kind of kept him out just as, you know, being as cautious as we can. And I didn’t know if he was going to practice today either. But, he came into the office today and was like, ‘Hey, I’d like to try,'” said Pope. “He actually did a conditioning deal yesterday, and he actually responded pretty well. It’s a pretty simple conditioning deal. But his post-exercise effects were negligible. So we’re hopeful we’ll see how he feels.”
Lucas is one of the best passers on this year’s BYU team to go along with the scoring punch he provides on offense. Lucas is averaging 4.4 assists per game this season.
BYU versus Loyola Marymount tips off at 9 p.m. (MT) on ESPNU. The radio broadcast can be heard on KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM), your legacy home of the BYU Cougars.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
