UCLA freshman wing Shabazz Muhammad is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with a shoulder strain, UCLA announced Thursday.
Muhammad injured the shoulder Wednesday when teammate Jordan Adams accidentally hit it during practice.
An MRI revealed no structural damage for the 6-foot-6 Muhammad, one of the top recruits in the Class of 2012.
Tavon Sledge wanted to come home to be closer to his father.
Kwame Sledge is ill and Tavon, a 5-foot-9 sophomore point guard from Spring Valley, N.Y., needed to be with him.
So he transferred from Iowa State, where he was getting little playing time, and moved to Iona, where he enrolled in summer classes. On Thursday, he learned that he had received a hardship waiver to play immediately.
“My father’s sick,” Tavon told SNY.tv, declining to specify what the illness is. “He’s been sick since I was in Iowa and it’s just been getting worse. When I thought about transferring back home, I kept my father in my mind, my family,
EDITOR’S NOTE 10/28: Chris Copeland ended up being the only training camp invite to make the Knicks’ 15-man roster after Oscar Bellfield, John Shurna, Henry Sims and Mychel Thompson were all waived on Saturday.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The evidence of Knicks coach Mike Woodson’s trust in rookie Chris Copeland was clearly on display during the final seconds of regulation Wednesday night against the Nets at Nassau Coliseum.
With the game tied at 86-86, Woodson called for the 6-foot-8 Copeland to attack the basket and take a potential game-winning shot. Copeland never was able to get the shot off but he did finish with a team-best 16 points in the team’s 97-95 overtime win.
Woodson said he expected to meet with Knicks GM Glen Grunwald on Thursday about cuts and the team’s final roster, and Copeland appears to be in very strong shape to fill out a final spot on the roster along with Rasheed Wallace.
An MRI Thursday revealed that Knicks center Tyson Chandler has a bone bruise in his left knee and the team listed him as day-to day.
Chandler, the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, banged knees with Nets forward Gerald Wallace in the first minute of the Knicks’ 97-95 OT win Wednesday at the Nassau Colisuem.
“I’m sure I’ll stay off it the next couple of days and then pick up work with my teammates leading into the first game of the season,” he said.
The Knicks don’t play again until the season opener Nov. 1 against the Nets in Brooklyn.
Andrew Wiggins is expected to reclassify to the Class of 2013 and thus become eligible for the 2014 NBA Draft.
“Spoke to Andrew father Mitch,” Huntington (W.V.) Prep coach Rob Fulford said on Twitter. “Both he and Andrew are comfortable with him reclassifying to 2013. He wants to concentrate on school & season.”
The news was first reported by USA Today, which quoted Mitchell Wiggins, Andrew’s father and the former NBA player.
“It’s time,” Mitchell Wiggins told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s time for him (to show) that he is the best in college right now. I think he is ready for the next step. Academically-wise he is doing great. Maturity-wise he is doing great. He has a lot of talent. He is ready for the next step, and everybody knows it is time. It is Andrew’s time. Next year is coming soon and he is ready.”
Hall of Fame St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said he hopes UCLA freshman Kyle Anderson is cleared by the NCAA and is able to compete this season.
The 6-foot-9 Anderson led St. Anthony to back-to-back New Jersey Tournament of Champions titles and a 65-0 record in his two seasons at the school. Among other things, the NCAA is looking into Anderson’s relationship with NBA agent Thad Foucher, who has a preexisting relationship with Kyle Anderson Sr. from their AAU days.
“I read about it, kind of read as much as I could about it and hope that it all gets resolved quickly because we’re going to try to see him over the Barclays Center in a few weeks [when UCLA plays in the Legends Classic Nov. 19-20],” Hurley told SNY.tv Thursday.
Former Penn State commit Brandon Austin of Philadelphia leaves Friday for his official visit to Texas.
The 6-foot-5 Austin is coming off back-to-back visits to Providence and then UConn.
“[Texas assistant] Coach [Rob] Lanier called and got in touch with everybody he needed to get in touch with,” Lonnie Lowery, Austin’s AAU coach, told SNY.tv.
“Him and Coach [Rick] Barnes came in to see Brandon a couple weeks ago. They came in and watched him. They’ve been doing a good job of talking to everybody and Brandon was interested so he definitely wanted to take a visit.”
