After battle with mono, Collin Murray-Boyles makes anticipated return to basketball
As warmups began Friday night, a new face joined South Carolina in its layup lines. It was one that hadn’t been on the floor with the team all year.
That fresh face turned out to be freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles. After a long battle with mono, he was getting ready to make his college debut.
With over three minutes to go and the game in hand, Murray-Boyles got his chance. It didn’t take long for him to make an impact as he quickly hit a layup to pad the Gamecocks’ lead. He finished 1-for-2 on the night with an assist and personal foul as well.
[GamecockCentral for $1: In-depth coverage and a great community]
While his stats might not jump off the page, getting him back on the court was what mattered most to head coach Lamont Paris.
“It was very important that he was able to go in and just to get your feet wet and get in there. The crowds out there, he’s from Columbia,” Paris said. “He got a bucket. Thought he got fouled on it anyway. The guys were excited for him to get out there.”
One scenario Paris didn’t want to put Murray-Boyles in longer than he needed to be. After all, this was his first game of the year. He wanted to take things easy. Luckily, he was able to do so since the Gamecocks won by 22 points.
“We’re seven games in so there’s a lot of other things with how this group has grown. And it’s his first time being out there,” Paris said. “So you try not to forget that. So what I didn’t want to have happen honestly was that there was a time I needed to put him in because someone was in foul trouble and it’s a nip and tuck game.”
[The perfect Christmas gift: A gift subscription to GamecockCentral]
Doctors fully-cleared Murray-Boyles to return to practice on Wednesday and quickly made his return to game action in Friday’s win over George Washington. One main concern would be how long it would take for him to regain his strength after losing some weight. But it seems he’s been able to put back on some mass.
For now, Murray-Boyles will be on a minutes restriction as he keeps working back. Paris said it wouldn’t be realistic for him to play at least 20 minutes anytime soon. He still has to get up to speed on everything that his teammates have been doing.
“He’s not going to know a coverage the same way as some of these other guys. He’s not going to make a rotation the way that some of these other guys may have,” Paris said. “And then your natural instinct is going to be, ‘Hey, we’ve done that a thousand times at this point.’ And he has not done that a thousand times. I just thought that would’ve been a bad scenario for him to be in. The game played out in a way that it would make sense to go in.”
[On3 App: Get South Carolina push notifications from GamecockCentral]
Coming into this season, Murray-Boyles had a shot to be an impact player right away. However, mono slowed that process down. Now, as he continues to see action, Paris believes he can still be that guy this year.
“I thought it went as well as it could and then we’ll move forward and try to improve and increase his capacity, getting back to being the guy that he was. He was playing at a really high level before this all happened,” Paris said.
