The news Duck fans have yearned to hear for almost five weeks came at Oregon’s basketball practice on Tuesday; Dominic Artis will return for the next game.
After missing nine games with an unspecified lower-leg/foot injury, the freshman point guard will be eased back into action for the men’s hoops squad in its battle against Oregon State on Thursday.
Head coach Dana Altman told reporters that Artis would come off he bench, rather than jump right back into his starting role.
“Hopefully, if things progress well, he will give us a few minutes on Thursday night,” Altman said. “It’s not going to be a lot (of playing time). It depends on the game and it depends on how he is feeling but I don’t anticipate him playing long.”
Altman also added that he would consult the trainers to come up with a sort of “pitch-count” for how much Artis will contribute against the Beavers.
With three games left on the schedule, Artis’ return could not have come at a more pivotal time. The Ducks control their own destiny in finishing as the Pac-12 regular season champions and at the very least can clinch a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament with one more win.
“If we can gradually bring him back this week and the two games next week, I think by conference tournament he is pretty much back,” Altman said.
With Artis in the starting lineup, the Ducks were 6-0 in conference play, averaging over 72 points per game. Without him, Oregon is 5-4 and has managed just short of 64 each game.
As far as Artis’ road to recovery, Altman had the following to say:
“He has been doing some individual workouts, he did little dry stuff and I hope to get him a little more involved today … We don’t want any setbacks so we will take it slow and we will take it really slow Thursday night. He is moving pretty good and he says it feels good.”
He added, “We could have brought him back a couple weeks ago, but he is freshman that we want to build around.”
Artis looked to have no hindrance while he shot around pre-practice, making most of his shots and showing the ability to cut on some passing and shooting off-the-screen drills. He wore a padded sleeve on his injured leg with what looked like slender brace underneath.
Artis did not participate in all of the practice exercises and left the floor early. Altman said it was due to some issue with his brace or shoe-inserts not fitting.