Bruce Weber optimistic injured K-State guard Cartier Diarra will play again this year
It sounds like Kansas State guard Cartier Diarra will play again for the Wildcats this season.
Diarra, a key sophomore reserve, suffered a broken finger on his shooting hand at some point within the past week and is currently recovering from surgery on the injured extremity. If all goes well during the rehab process, he could return to the court in a few weeks.
“Our hope is still that we get him back,” K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber said Thursday. “It would probably be more towards the end of the conference or the tournament, if it all works out.”
One of the reasons Weber is optimistic: Diarra has a history of coming back fast from injuries.
Diarra suffered a torn ACL the summer before his freshman season and was back practicing with his teammates by Christmas. And his vertical leap improved.
“Everything’s got to go perfect with him,” Weber said. “He’s a young man that had to have ACL surgery and a lot of times, those are people that come back after over a year. Nine months or less than that, eight months, he was back and doing stuff on the court. He’s got some toughness and resilience ... Hopefully he has a knack for recovering from injuries and surgeries faster than the normal person.”
Diarra should be able to begin conditioning drills after a few days of rest.
The circumstances around Diarra’s injury remain a mystery. Just when it seemed like he was starting to find a groove and emerge as K-State’s top bench player, he didn’t travel with the Wildcats for a road game against Texas.
Weber described the injury as a “freak accident” earlier in this week and refused to elaborate on its cause when asked directly about it on Thursday.
“It could have been slipping on the ice,” Weber said, “could have been slipping in the bath tub, could have been on the basketball court. It doesn’t really matter. All we have to worry about is Cartier getting healthy and moving forward.”
Turns out, K-State didn’t need Diarra to defeat Texas.
But the injury came at an unfortunate time for player and team. Diarra has come on strong of late, playing like one of K-State’s top performers over a four-game stretch before Texas. He averaged 11.3 points, three assists and 2.5 rebounds during that time, delivering some memorable highlights along the way, like a windmill dunk against Kansas and a jaw-dropping assist at Baylor.
Diarra played in the first 23 games for the Wildcats this season. He was averaging 6.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
The Wildcats turned to sophomore guard Mike McGuirl and freshman Shaun Neal-Williams in Diarra’s absence on Tuesday.
They will continue to rely on them until Diarra returns to the lineup.