[Enlund's Blog] BYU star is battling injuries

[TomEnlundSays]

BYU star is battling injuries
               




               

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/142711745.html
               

[Benny B]

I'm not sure what sort of effect this is going to have on his game... I didn't know he was nursing an injury on Tuesday night, so perhaps that was the reason he seemed a bit uncomfortable on defense.

Evidently, he pulled something of a Gardner injury on 2/18 vs. Santa Clara... goes down in the second half, stays & finishes the game.  Hartsock then played 7 ineffective minutes the following game vs. Gonzaga 2/23, was a DNP vs. Portland on 2/25, but has played, 27, 30 & 38 minutes in each of his last three games scoring 19, 12 & 23, respectively.  Granted, those three games are a small sample, but it seems that the only places where his stats have declined post-injury is in personal fouls, FT attempts and offense rebounds, indicating perhaps that he isn't being as aggressive down low on either end of the court as he was earlier in the season.

Although, in looking at the one game he's played against tournament-caliber competition (save Iona) since his injury - vs. Gonzaga, WCC-Semis 3/3 - Gonzaga virtually shut him down after Hartsock lit up the Zags in their previous meeting on 2/2.  By comparison:

FG / FT / RB / PF / PTS

Feb 2 - 10 /4 /14 /3 / 24
Mar 3 - 4 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 12

Gonzaga ranks 182 of 344 in adjusted Tempo, and BYU's three games against GU this year were all below BYU's average in total points.  Gonzaga apparently took advantage of Hartsock's injury in their final two meetings and forced BYU into a half-court game.

My guess in all of this is that Hartsock can run on his knee just fine, but he's having problems with lateral movement and pressure.  In other words, he'll get up and down in transition just fine, but he's not going to be able to bang around with Jae and DG in the paint today.