Shon Abaev's Injury Status Upgraded Ahead of Texas Tech Matchup

Cincinnati is closer and closet to the healthiest it can get this season.

Dec 29, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats guard Shon Abaev (10) drives to the basket against the Lipscomb Bisons in the second half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — Bearcats basketball wing Shon Abaev made more progress with his ankle sprain over the weekend. The freshman has been upgraded from doubtful to questionable on the latest injury report from the Big 12.

He could try to suit up tonight at 7 p.m. ET against No. 16 Texas Tech in another must-win matchup for the Bearcats' NCAA Tournament hopes.

We noted last week that this weekend could be his main target for a return, but a good pregame warmup could get him back in the lineup a game earlier. Abaev is averaging eight points and three rebounds during a struggle-filled freshman season, but that 6-9 frame was starting to make a real impact right when he got hurt.

Cincinnati is trying to win a fifth-straight game this evening after destroying Kansas on the boards 40-29 in an 84-68 victory.

"Today we were really worried about the rebounding," UC head coach Wes Miller said after that win. "We haven't been at our best in our last couple of games on the backboards. So we had a bye week this week, which was much needed. Rebounding was a huge emphasis. It's that point in the year, I think the best way to work on rebounding is to play live basketball. And rebounding is will and fight in pursuit of the ball more than it's any technique, 

"And it's hard to do too much of that this time of year with some of the health stuff we've had. But we did as much as we could this week to try to fix our rebounding, and then we knew it's a huge key against a really good rebounding team in Kansas. I thought early on, we missed a couple of box outs, but as the game went on, I thought we were really good on the board."

Check out the full injury report below:

Big 12 Injury Report | Big 12 I

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