Howard's Makur Maker shut down due to groin injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Howard freshman Makur Maker has been shut down due to what coach Kenneth Blakeney called a nagging groin injury, according to The Washington Post.
The five-star recruit was limited to 19 minutes in the team’s loss to Queens University (N.C.) on Friday, the Bison’s second game of the Paradise Jam tournament.
“Quite honestly, he’s really banged up and we’re going to shut him down until he gets healthy because right now he’s just not,” Blakeney said via the Post. “He’s not able to move and I don’t want him to be counterproductive right now.”
Makur, who finished the game with 12 points (8-for-8 on free throws), four rebounds and a block, is said to have suffered the injury in preseason but felt comfortable enough to play through it. In the team’s season opening loss to Belmont on Thursday, he scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds in 29 minutes.
Unable to make a full recovery, the 6-11 Maker is now out for the foreseeable future. His absence will temper some of the expectations his commitment brought to Howard.
“He’s such a competitor that he really wanted to go out and try to do the best for his teammates and for himself,” Blakeney said. “But sometimes you got to help people get out of their own way and I think that this is one of those times that we have to do that.”
Howard plays George Mason in its last game of the Paradise Jam Saturday at 3 p.m.
