Wichita State’s Anton Grady off crutches and waiting for next step in recovery

Wichita State basketball player Anton Grady is off crutches and preparing for the next step in his recovery from a spinal concussion.

On Wednesday, a doctor will examine Grady’s X-rays and begin to plan his treatment and recovery, WSU assistant director of media relations Bryan Holmgren said.

“After the local neurosurgeon reviews the results, then he can make a recommendation on if and when Anton can come back and what the timeline would look like,” Holmgren said. “As of right now, that discussion hasn’t happened and won’t happen until the neurosurgeon has had a chance to weigh in.”

WSU coach Gregg Marshall said he is unsure if guard Fred VanVleet will play in Saturday’s game at Saint Louis. VanVleet, out with a strained left hamstring, hasn’t played since Nov. 17 and hasn’t been at full strength since late October.

“He’s been doing stuff on the side,” Marshall said. “He’s always with the trainers over on the side. Once in awhile I’ll see him running. It’s the protocol to try to get him conditioned as possible without further hurting the hamstring.”

Grady, a senior center, suffered a spinal concussion in Friday morning’s game against Alabama. He was taken from the court, conscious, unable to move, on a stretcher to a trauma hospital.

The scene reminded Marshall of two other difficult moments during his time at WSU.

Days after being hired in April 2007, he went to New Hampshire to watch recruit Guy Alang-Ntang play. Alang-Ntang collapsed and died during a pickup game with Marshall in the stands. In September 2013, guard D.J. Bowles collapsed during a practice and was revived by trainer Todd Fagan. Bowles was not cleared to play basketball. He remains at the university and is a student manager for the team.

“Unfortunately, I’ve seen my share of that,” Marshall said.

Grady began to regain feeling in his extremities by Friday evening. He continued to gain mobility Saturday and Sunday to the point he used crutches. He flew back to Wichita late Sunday evening with the team. Marshall reiterated that decisions about Grady’s future will be made by doctors and family.

“At least he’s alive and getting better,” Marshall said. “I don’t know if he’s going to ever play again or not, or if so, when. I don’t know any of that.”

Through this turmoil, Shockers coaches must do a quick fix on offense, which rarely gets fast-break baskets and lacks a low-post scorer, and defense, which is often spoiled by young players missing assignments and allowing open shots.

“We’ve just got to keep fighting, keep fighting until we get our players back,” WSU freshman forward Markis McDuffie said. “I don’t mean keep fighting and losing. We’re going to keep fighting and we’re going to try to win.”

WSU’s best shooting percentage in the three-game AdvoCare Invitational was 35.6 percent against Iowa.

“Once we know who’s going to be out there, we’ve got to come up with an attack that’s going to create easier scoring opportunities,” Marshall said. “Obviously, those aren’t easy enough. There’s a lot of issues.”

The Shockers led Southern California 49-43 with 12:43 remaining before losing 72-69. They led Alabama 48-43 with 12:08 to play before losing 64-60.

“We still had a chance to win two of the games,” Marshall said. “We’ve been ahead, five or six points, approximately midway through the second half.”

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Anton Grady off crutches and waiting for next step in recovery."