Gophers senior guard Nate Mason is available to play in Wednesday’s Big Ten home game against Illinois.
Mason missed Saturday’s 65-55 win against Harvard with an ankle injury. But the All-Big Ten point guard went through pregame warmups Wednesday with the team and looked much more comfortable moving and cutting on his left ankle.
Mason, who ranks second on the team in scoring (15.5) and first in assists (4.1), rolled his left ankle when he was bumped going for a steal early in the second half of a 95-60 win Dec. 23 against Florida Atlantic. He finished the game with a team-high 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting from three-point range in 21 minutes.
The 6-foot-2 captain missed his first game Saturday since the 2015-16 season when he sat out against Harvard. Freshman point guard Isaiah Washington, who has two career starts, replaced Mason and had nine points on 4-for-17 shooting and a career-best 13 rebounds.
Pitino said earlier this week that junior guard Dupree McBrayer will definitely play Wednesday against Illinois. McBrayer had 15 points against Harvard Saturday in his return from a two-game absence with a lower left leg injury.
Mason and McBrayer haven't been in the lineup together since a Dec. 11 wini against Drake. McBrayer missed both the Oral Roberts and Florida Atlantic games.
Marcus Fuller joined the Star Tribune in 2016 after 11 years covering Gophers sports – and just about every other team and league in town -- for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Before making the Twin Cities his home, Marcus spent two years in The Kansas City Star sports department. Marcus grew up in Hawaii and is a 2002 graduate of San Jose State. Follow Fuller on Twitter @Marcus_R_Fuller.
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