Texas Basketball: Jericho Sims out Indefinitely With Back Injury
Texas basketball will have to proceed without junior guard Jericho Sims.
The Texas sports information department sent out an update that the junior guard will be out indefinitely with a back injury.
The injury is nothing new for Sims, who has been struggling with it for the past few games.
"He's been battling some injuries in that area for quite a while," Texas head coach Shaka Smart said. "He's been a real warrior, to be honest with you, just the way he's hung in there. We've had to limit him quite a bit practice-wise the last couple of months."
Sims was averaging 9.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game this season. Perhaps, more importantly, he was a force in the frontcourt that every opponent had to account for.
His ability to draw extra attention and double teams from opposing defenses opens up shots from the outside for the Longhorn guards, allowing them to lead the league in made 3-pointers.
Texas has also been without junior guard Jase Febres (knee) and freshman forward Kai Jones (ankle).
The news comes at a bad time for Texas as the Longhorns find their tournament hopes dangling by a thread after suffering three-straight losses to Baylor (52-45), Texas Tech (62-57) and Kansas (69-58). Texas finds itself at 14-10 overall, 4-7 in the Big 12 conference and without a real quality win on its resume to impress the tournament committee.
To make the Big Dance the Longhorns likely need at least five wins in their final seven games as well as a decent run in the conference tournament to get on the other side of the bubble.
Texas starts its stretch run on Saturday with a road test against Iowa STate. The game starts at 1 p.m.
