Following Virginia Tech's 73-69 loss to NC State, Hokies head coach Mike Young shared the latest injury updates on Hunter Cattoor and Rodney Rice as transcribed by Tech Sideline's David Cunningham.
Full quotes from Mike Young on the injury details to Hunter Cattoor and Rodney Rice:
— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) January 8, 2023
Rice has yet to be cleared from the medical staff; Cattoor continues to improve but struggled to catch the ball initially after his injury. #Hokies pic.twitter.com/7uRE5Mu0k9
As you can see, this is the most detail we have gotten on the injury to Cattoor while the Rice comments are definitely fascinating to say the least.
First on Cattoor, it's clearly a pain/soreness issue waiting to have the bruise heal up to where even catching the ball is no longer a painful experience given how the elbow bounces with movement as Young shared.
It's easy to see why Young and the Hokies have continued to call Cattoor a game-time decision because it seems to be primarily a situation of waiting for the bruise to heal enough for the pain tolerance to be fine. That's the type of thing that can be more unpredictable to know exactly when but clearly Young is an optimist or at least hopeful that he'll have Cattoor back soon though while Young thinks he'll be back, there isn't an expectation of a return for the trip to Syracuse currently.
Meanwhile, the Rice situation is heading towards the odd/bizarre category given the seeming disagreement between the medical staff and just about everyone else inside Hahn Hurst given Young's comments. In some ways, it seems like Young has been trying to take the frustration from fans regarding the Rice situation himself even if it's simply a decision that is out of his control currently.
That makes Rice's involvement in warm-ups almost seem like a way to keep Rice engaged given that he certainly has to be frustrated that he hasn't been given the go ahead to play despite seeming to be good to just about doing anything else.
Tech could use either of these guys especially Cattoor given the importance that he brings to the table but even having Rice would give them a fourth quality scholarship guard to benefit a backcourt that could use some depth especially Sean Pedulla had to play all 40 minutes against NC State and Darius Maddox played 38.
