Harris out vs. OSU, other Huskers fighting through illness

As if a full week off and preparing for a neutral-site showdown vs. Oklahoma State wasn’t enough, Nebraska has also been battling an illness that has slowly spread through the team.

Head coach Tim Miles said freshman guard Amir Harris, who missed last Saturday’s win over Creighton with the same ailment, had already been ruled out for Sunday’s game in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Not only that, Miles said at least two other Huskers – which he declined to name – had missed practice time due to sickness this week.

Miles said the team believes Harris is dealing with mononucleosis, but that diagnosis hasn’t been fully confirmed.

“We’ve had some illness running through the team,” Miles said. “We’ve had at least three guys miss practice… We’ve just got to try and get them healthy and see what we can put together here.”

Along with Harris already being out, Miles added that NU would be taking every precaution to avoid the illness from spreading further.

“Not everyone will go on the bus (to Sioux Falls), let’s put it that way,” he said.

Freshman forward Brady Heiman – who shares a dorm room with Harris – said he was feeling fine, but confirmed the Huskers weren’t taking any chances.

“I know they had somebody come in yesterday and clean the whole locker room and disinfect everything,” Heiman said. “So yeah, I’m good.”

The silver lining to the situation is that if there was ever a time for an illness to make its way through Nebraska’s locker room during the season, now would be the most ideal.

Following the Creighton win, the Huskers will play just three games over a span of 25 days before the start of Big Ten play on Jan. 2.

That means NU will likely be cautious with how it handles Harris and anyone else who might come down with the illness going forward.

“Right now we think it might be mono, so we’ve got to be careful with that and take our time with his return,” Miles said.