Gonzaga ‘waiting to make a final decision’ on injured forward Braden Huff’s return to court

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Braden Huff won’t be back on the court anytime soon, but it may not be long before Gonzaga determines whether the team’s second-leading scorer is able to suit up again this season.

Huff, who suffered a left knee injury during practice before Gonzaga’s Jan. 15 trip to Washington State, missed his seventh straight game on Saturday at Oregon State. The Zags, who’ve gone 6-1 in games without Huff, should expect to be without the junior forward for another stretch of West Coast Conference games in the coming weeks, and possibly longer than that.

“We’re probably waiting to make a final decision or make a final announcement,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said after the team’s 81-61 win over Oregon State at Gill Coliseum. “It’s not even close right now, so we’ll see. I think we’re at week three now, right?”

The team originally said Huff, who was averaging 17.8 points and 5.6 rebounds, would miss between four to eight weeks with his knee injury. The timeline theoretically gave Huff a chance to return to the court, with roughly seven weeks between the forward’s injury and the start of the WCC Tournament that’s set to take place March 5-10 in Las Vegas.

Huff was with the team just a day after the injury occurred, bussing with the Zags to Pullman on Jan. 15, but then traveled back to his hometown of Glen Elyn, Illinois, outside of Chicago where he’s spent the last handful of weeks recovering and going through physical therapy.

Gonzaga still hasn’t specified what the exact nature of Huff’s injury is, or if it required surgery.

“I was just telling him to keep good thoughts in his mind, to always just speak life into himself and try to keep laughter up,” frontcourt mate Graham Ike said. “That’s a big thing when it comes to healing is just trying to laugh all the time and stay out of those dark side thoughts and just be around good people.

“He’s at home right now, he’s feeling the love I’m sure and just getting in his good (physical therapy) and just getting back ready for whenever.”

The Zags have struggled to replace Huff’s production and efficiency and dropped their second game this season on Wednesday at Portland, losing 87-80 at the Chiles Center.

Gonzaga did manage to win three games without both Huff and Ike on the floor and the latter returned from a right ankle sprain to help Few’s team beat WCC rival Saint Mary’s last Saturday. Ike’s averaging 29.2 points in his last five games after matching his career-high with 35 points against Oregon State.