By: Sammy Stava
@StavaOnSTL
He’s back. According to reports, first reported by SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum, Michael Porter Jr. will play tomorrow at the SEC Tournament in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center. From Finebaum’s report, head coach Cuonzo Martin said “He said ‘Coach, I want to help the team’…for me it was always Mike’s decision to play or not play.”
Back on February 22nd, Michael Porter Jr. was cleared for all basketball activities, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, but did not appear in the final three games of the regular season; at Kentucky, at Vanderbilt, and vs Arkansas.
While Cuonzo Martin says Porter Jr. is prepared to play, he won’t start, Martin told reporters at Missouri’s press conference today at the Scottrade Center.
Cuonzo says MPJ is prepared to play, but won’t start. #Mizzou #SEC
— Brendan Wiese (@bwiese16) March 7, 2018
Not only is it a key time for Michael Porter Jr. to return for Missouri to potentially upgrade their NCAA Tournament seeding this weekend at the SEC Tournament in St. Louis, but the Tigers roster was getting thinner and thinner.
Cullen VanLeer suffered a torn ACL in Missouri’s 77-67 win over Arkansas on Saturday, which brought Mizzou down to seven scholarship players at that time. Not to mention, Jordan Geist missed today’s shoot around due to flu-like symptoms, but it sounds like he’ll be fine.
Missouri finished the regular season at 20-11 (10-8) and will open up their postseason play tomorrow around 2:30 against the winner of Vanderbilt and Georgia. The Tigers beat both the Commodores and Bulldogs in the regular season.
