By JACOB POLACHECK
UConn junior point guard R.J. Cole has been cleared to play in the Huskies’ NCAA Tournament opener against Maryland Saturday.
“R.J. was cleared this morning by the medical people,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said Friday afternoon. “If there’s no setbacks between now and game time, he’s a go.”
Cole entered concussion protocol after suffering a mild concussion during UConn’s Big East tournament semifinal loss to Creighton on March 12 before returning to practice Thursday.
Cole, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound guard from Union, N.J., has averaged 12.3 points per game and a team-high 4.4 assists per game this season.
“I’m feeling definitely a lot better than I did when I got the concussion a week back,” Cole said. “I’m just excited. This is my first tournament, the first tournament for everybody. So I’m just excited to get back out there and play basketball with my teammates.”
No. 7 seed UConn will face No. 10 seed Maryland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday. Tipoff is set for 7:10 p.m. ET at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, IN.
“I knew R.J. wasn’t going to sit out the game,” UConn leading scorer James Bouknight said. “R.J.’s that type of player, man, he’s so tough. He wants this as much as anybody else, so I always knew he was gonna play. But just seeing him back out there on the floor … it was fun.”
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