Gonzaga’s Mark Few says forward Braden Huff ‘long ways away’ from returning to court

Gonzaga still isn’t ruling out a return to the court for Braden Huff, but it’ll be at least four more weeks before the junior forward is able to suit up again as he continues to recover from a left knee injury.

Coach Mark Few, appearing Sunday on his weekly television program, “The Mark Few Show,” indicated Gonzaga’s second-leading scorer is still at least a month from playing again, essentially guaranteeing Huff won’t play in four remaining regular-season games or in the West Coast Conference Tournament from March 5-10 in Las Vegas.

“We said four to eight weeks, it’ll be at least eight,” Few told KHQ host Greg Heister. “He’s still on crutches, we’ll get him off crutches here in a little while. As that progresses, we’ll see how it’s going. He’s a long ways away from getting back, but hopefully. Who knows.”

The timeline suggests Huff could be available by the NCAA Tournament, with opening-round games beginning March 19 and 20.

Huff injured his knee before Gonzaga’s Jan. 15 game at Washington State and spent multiple weeks back home in the Chicago area before returning to Spokane early this week to attend Tuesday’s game against the Cougars at McCarthey Athletic Center.

He traveled with the Zags for Saturday’s 94-86 win at Santa Clara, but still wasn’t putting pressure on his left leg and navigated the court using crutches.

After a Feb. 7 game at Oregon State, Few said the Zags were still “waiting to make a final decision and a final announcement” on whether Huff would be able to play again this season.

The Zags are now 8-1 in games without Huff, picking up an important Quad 1 win at Santa Clara on Saturday that moved them back into first place in the WCC standings. Huff’s last game was on Jan. 8, when the Zags beat the Broncos 89-77 in Spokane. He was averaging 17.6 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 66.2% from the field before the injury occurred in a practice leading up to GU’s game at WSU.