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Hellems a 'Game-Time Decision' Against UNCG
NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts said Friday that Jericole Hellems' availability for Sunday's against UNC Greensboro will be a "game-time" decision.
The sophomore forward, who was injured in a scary collision with the floor in last Saturday's win at Wake Forest, was scheduled to return to practice on Friday. Only then, Keatts said, would he have a better idea as to whether Hellems will be able to play in the nonconference game at Greensboro Coliseum.
"I've been on the road recruiting and I haven't seen him since two days ago, but he has not (yet) practiced," the Wolfpack coach said during a media availability before Friday's practice.
"I've got to make sure, No. 1, whether the doctors and trainers say he's fully healthy to go,: He's got to feel good about it and I also have to feel good about it. But I haven't seen him practice since the incident happened."
Keatts said that Hellems suffered "a low-grade early-in-the-week concussion" when he took a hard fall while battling for a rebound with 28 seconds remaining in the Wolfpack's 91-82 win at Wake Forest. He was chasing the ball down with Deacons Chaundee Brown and Olivier Sarr when they all collided just outside the lane about 15 feet from the basket.
Hellems came down hard and apparently hit the back of his head on the floor, then suffered a second blow when Sarr landed on top of him. He laid motionless on the floor for several minutes as medical personnel before being take to Winston-Salem's Baptist Hospital on a back board for precautionary reasons.
Keatts said that tests showed Hellems didn't suffer any broken bones in the fall and has since been cleared him to return to the court.
"The trainer and the doctors said he's passed a couple of the test for the concussion," Keatts said. "As far as his back goes, it was great news. We were blessed that he didn't fracture anything in his back."
Hellems' teammate Braxton Beverly said that while the decision isn't Hellems' to make, if there's any way he can play on Sunday, he will.
"He's looking good, he's feeling good. He's ready to get back on the court," Beverly said. "I don't know exactly what the doctors said, I'm just kind of going off him. But he's a positive guy anyway, so I think he'll be fine."
Hellems ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game. He has been especially hot of late, setting career highs of 17 and 23 points in his two previous games before Wake Forest. He scored 13 in the win against the Deacons, going 3 of 4 from 3-point range
If he's not able to play Sunday, the already shorthanded Wolfpack will likely have an even shorter bench against the dangerous Spartans -- who already have a win at Georgetown this season.
"It's probably going to be a seven-man rotation," Keatts said. "The promising thing is that Danny Dixon was able to go a couple of days ago and was able to give us something at practice.
"If there's a chance that Jericole doesn't play, hopefully we can get something out of Danny, which will give us the ability to play D.J. (Funderburk) a little at the power forward spot."
