WSU’s Landry Shamet, Markis McDuffie on track with injury recoveries

There wasn’t an update to give on the recovery of Landry Shamet and Markis McDuffie to their foot injuries at the AAC media day in Philadelphia on Monday morning.

No news is good news to coach Gregg Marshall because it means Shamet and McDuffie haven’t suffered a setback in their recovery from stress fractures. Shamet is still scheduled to return sometime in early-to-mid November, while McDuffie is still set for a return in mid-to-late December.

“Two of my best players are over there with broken feet,” Marshall told a group of national reporters. “We’re muddling through right now, but we’re going to continue to develop our bench and our depth.”

Shamet had surgery to fix a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal in his right foot on July 31, while McDuffie was diagnosed with a small stress fracture in the navicular bone in his left foot on Sept. 26. McDuffie’s injury did not require surgery.

For the players, the frustration of being sideline began to sink in once they started talking about basketball on Monday.

“I mean I’m fine, I’m not in any pain or anything, but it’s frustrating not being able to be out there with my team,” McDuffie said. “In my mind, I’m going to be better than ever when I come back.”

“I’ve gone through this before, just my other foot,” Shamet said. “I’m just going to continue to grind away with the rehab and it shouldn’t be too much longer. I try not to get too carried away or get too ahead of myself. I have to stay patient and stay smart with it. But we have a great training staff and they know what they’re doing.”

In their new free time, both said they have been taking advantage by watching even more video going into the season.

“Not just film of me, but I’m starting to watch film on some of the guys in the league,” McDuffie said. “I’m just learning and I’m trying to put some new things into my game when I can start dribbling a basketball and running down the court again. But for now, I’m kind of like a player-coach.”

Shamet hoped the additional time off his foot might actually pay dividends for the upcoming season.

“I’m trying to take advantage of the miles I’m not putting on my legs right now,” Shamet said. “I’m hoping that will carry me further here all the way through March.”

This story was originally published October 16, 2017 at 10:02 AM with the headline "WSU’s Landry Shamet, Markis McDuffie on track with injury recoveries."