Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ready for Porter Jr.
Today’s game not only will be the final home game for Missouri’s seniors but possibly freshman Michael Porter Jr.
There seems little doubt Porter Jr., a 6-10 forward, will leave Missouri after this season to enter the NBA Draft considering he’s projected to be a top-10 pick.
Porter Jr. played only the first two minutes of the season opener against Iowa State before leaving the game because of a back injury. He subsequently underwent back surgery, but last week he was medically cleared to practice.
Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin said Thursday that whether Porter Jr. plays today will depend on how he responds physically after going through practice on back-to-back days.
“It’ll really come down to how Mike feels,” Martin said. “Then we’ll go from there.”
Porter Jr. went through warmups at Missouri’s previous two games at Kentucky and Vanderbilt, then before the tipoff he changed into sweats and sat on the bench as he has since the Iowa State game.
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said he expects Porter Jr. to play, but his questionable status hasn’t affected the Razorbacks’ preparations.
“He’s a tremendous basketball player,” Anderson said. “He’ll be, I’m sure, impactful on their team.
“But we’ll prepare like we prepare for everybody else. No different. It’s the last [regular-season] game, and we just have to go do the things that we do.”