He’s back.
Just 37 days after suffering an injury to his left wrist on Jan. 9, junior forward Jon Leuer returned to practice Monday with his left wrist taped, looking like he hasn’t missed a beat.
His ability to quickly assimilate back into the lineup likely had a lot to do with the fact Leuer had been shooting and working out for the last 2-3 weeks. Leuer credited assistant coach Gary Close’s extra work with him in helping him return even sooner.
Leuer’s return appeared to have given his teammates an added bounce in their steps at practice Monday with the possibility of seeing the Long Lake, Minn. native back on the court as soon as Thursday’s matchup with Minnesota.
After practice, Leuer admitted he also was thrilled to be back.
“It feels great,” he said. “It’s been a while, and I’ve been working real hard with Henry (Perez-Guerra) and just the whole medical staff. It feels good to get out there and mix it up with the guys — that’s just the main thing I missed is just the camaraderie with my teammates. It’s fun to get back out there.”
Leuer stepped back into his role within the Badgers’ starting lineup Monday and looked as if he had never left. The 6-foot-10 forward impressed observers as he received a long inbounds pass from senior guard Jason Bohannon, which Leuer quickly converted into an impressive one-handed slam.
If Leuer does return Thursday, it would be 40 days to the date of Leuer’s injury against the Boilermakers. That would fall just short of six weeks, which was the high-end estimate of most news outlets following the January injury.
Regardless of what happens later this week in Minnesota, Leuer’s return to practice Monday signifies he will indeed be back for the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA Tournament, which will likely give UW a huge boost going forward.
“With his capabilities, having him back on the floor makes us a lot better,” Bohannon said. “Anytime you lose a player like that, it’s tough to overcome, but our team’s been very strong-willed and… got some things down without him. We got stronger as a team and we’ll be just as strong if not stronger with him back.”
Already in the thick of the Big Ten title race, the Badgers’ hopes of securing at least a share of the Big Ten regular season championship should definitely increase with Leuer back.
If nothing else, Leuer should draw plenty of attention on the offensive end, which will open up the floor quite a bit more, allowing Wisconsin’s guards to find more scoring and passing lanes. On the defensive end, Leuer’s size will certainly be a welcomed change for UW, which has allowed opponents to shoot a higher percentage without Leuer than they did when he was in the lineup.
And as sophomore guard Jordan Taylor noted, Leuer is hard to miss.
“We got the giraffe back,” Taylor said, referring to Leuer. “It’s hard not to notice somebody who’s 6-foot-10. Obviously, you notice he’s not there.”
When asked if he was game ready, Leuer said he believed he was, but could not confirm whether he would play Thursday at Minnesota.
Regardless of the 6-foot-10 forward’s status for Thursday’s game, Bohannon and Taylor each insisted the team must play just as hard as it has without Leuer, and they cannot let up simply because Leuer is back.
“Everyone is going to keep playing the way they have,” Bohannon said. “Just because he’s back, no one is going to step back out of the role a bit more.”
“We kept playing without him, and now that he’s back we’ve got to keep playing again,” Taylor added. “It’s still basketball. We’ve just got to keep trying to get better.”
