Louisville's Noah Waterman a 'Game-Time Decision' at SMU

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After having to miss Louisville men's basketball's previous game vs. Virginia, there's a good chance that Noah Waterman might have to sit the next game at SMU as well.

Head coach Pat Kelsey announced Monday that the Cardinals forward is a "game-time decision" for their Tuesday road game against the Mustangs. Waterman has been playing through a broken right thumb for roughly a month.

"We're not sure yet, it'll probably be a game time decision. As I mentioned the other day, he's obviously dealing with a significant injury, and it's just been giving him more and more problems.

"We're trying our best through treatment for rest to have it settled down a little bit. Hopefully you can play as soon as possible. We'll know more as we get closer to the game tomorrow."

Waterman broke his thumb prior to Louisville's game vs. Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 28, a game where he not only played, but made the go-ahead layup with 1.2 seconds left to escape with a 78-76 win. The 6-foot-11, 230-pound forward then had surgery afterwards, which required four pins, but proceeded to play the next six games.

However, Kelsey sat Waterman for this past Saturday's game against Virginia. He revealed after the 81-67 win over the Cavaliers that Waterman fell on his injured thumb in Louisville's previous game, a 85-61 win at Syracuse, and it had swollen to the point where they had to x-ray his thumb again.

"Everything's fine, but it's sore, it's swollen, so we're gonna try to let it settle down a little bit," Kelsey said this past Saturday when asked about Waterman. "We don't have any word on what we're going to do on Tuesday. We just need that thing to settle down and continue to heal. But he's a dog, man. That kid just wants to play, and he plays hard."

Prior to missing the Virginia game, Waterman had played in all 18 games while making 14 starts. So far this season, the transfer from BYU has averaged 6.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per games, while shooting 35.0 percent from the field and 25.6 percent on three-point attempts.

Louisville (14-5, 7-1 ACC) heads into their showdown at SMU (14-4, 5-2 ACC) riding an eight-game winning streak after starting year one under Kelsey at 6-5. Tip-off against the Mustangs is set for Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 9:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Noah Waterman: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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