K-State forward Dean Wade battling more than a foot injury as he looks to regain form
Dean Wade hasn’t looked like himself the past few games while playing with an injured right foot.
At no time was that more evident than early on in Monday’s game against Kansas, when the senior K-State forward awkwardly turned the ball over on what should have been an easy fast-break scoring opportunity.
Barry Brown hit Wade in stride with a pass in the paint, giving him an opportunity to take one dribble and score over a smaller defender. But Wade has been hesitant to dunk or drive to the basket. Should he finish the play himself? Should he kick the ball to Xavier Sneed in the corner?
By the time Wade made his decision, it was too late. The play resulted in a travel, and the ball went to the Jayhawks. Not much later, he picked up two fouls and sat out the rest of the first half. He finished with eight points and an uncharacteristic four turnovers.
The injury is clearly bothering Wade, but K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber thinks something else is holding him back — a lack of practice time.
“It’s not like riding a bike,” Weber said. “If you don’t ride a bike for 30 years you can jump right on and do it, because you know how to do it. This is basketball. It’s rhythm and balance and just feeling good. Dean is who he is. He’s not the most confident guy and he needs confidence. He gets bumped and he turns it over. Now he gets a little tentative. You saw it against Iowa State and against Kansas. It takes him a little bit of time to get going.”
Wade did play some solid minutes against the Jayhawks once he got his first shot to go down, about five minutes into the second half. But it was too late and KU was on its way to a double-digit victory.
He will need to get off to a much faster start against Baylor on Saturday.
That won’t be easy considering Wade hasn’t practiced much since injuring his foot about three weeks ago. But Weber is cautiously optimistic his star forward is trending in the right direction.
Wade spent more time shooting and conditioning on Wednesday than he has in several weeks and could continue to do more as game time approaches. He might even be healthy enough to scrimmage with his teammates at some point in the near future.
“If all goes well, maybe we get him and Kamau (Stokes) back for practices next week,” Weber said, “as we finish up the last part of the season.”
Stokes has also missed recent practices because of a toe injury, but it hasn’t slowed him in games.
K-State has also been without reserve guard Cartier Diarra for the past five games while he recovers from a broken finger on his shooting hand. Weber said he is currently on track to return in time to play in the Big 12 Tournament.
For now, though, Weber’s focus is on practice.
The sooner he can get Wade back in a practice jersey, the sooner he thinks Wade will look like himself again in games.