Juwan Gary out with calf strain

According to Fred Hoiberg on Friday, Juwan Gary suffered a calf strain last Wednesday at Rutgers, not an Achilles tear.

Hoiberg said team trainer Andrew McCabe did the initial evaluation on Gary at Rutgers, and thought the Achilles was intact. Gary then had a scan Thursday and the results came back negative.

"We feel very fortunate about where things are with him — turned out it's a calf strain, and it's gonna be a day-to-day injury," Hoiberg said. "So he feels significantly better today than he did yesterday. It was a very scary situation for Juwan. I think everybody saw it was a non-contact injury. And he felt a pop and obviously thought the worst. It was very sore and he couldn't put much pressure on it at the time."

Hoiberg said it's going to be a day-to-day situation moving forward with Gary, who won't play Saturday against Northwestern.

"We'll just take it day-by-day," Hoiberg said. "If he continues to show the same progress that he's shown the last 48 hours, then hopefully we'll get him back on the court soon. I'm not going to put a time frame on it, but we'll just call it day-to-day right now."

Hoiberg said he didn't see the injury when it happened, but after the game he caught a replay of it. The coach said Gary felt scared thinking about the possibility of it being his third season-ending injury of his career.

"It was great to see him as the day went on," Hoiberg said. "He was on crutches all night, but the next morning, we talked to him and he said he was walking on his toes a little bit. And that's probably a pretty good sign when it comes to your Achilles."

Nebraska faces Northwestern at 1:15 p.m. Saturday's game will be part of Alumni Weekend for the Huskers, as nearly 65 former players and basketball staff will be back in Lincoln for the weekend.

While the news of Gary not sustaining a season-ending injury is good news, Gary's absence, for however long it will be, is a massive blow to Nebraska’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2013-14 season. Through 15 games, Gary has averaged 11.7 points and is second on the team in field goal percentage (50 percent) among rotation players. His 5.8 rebounds rank second on the team behind Rienk Mast’s 8.4.

Gary also has the most offensive rebounds (40) and blocks (14) on the squad. He’s tied with Brice Williams for the team lead in steals with 18, and Gary has played 130 fewer minutes and three fewer games.

With Gary out of the lineup for now, Hoiberg will once again have to adjust like he did last season when starters Gary and Emmanuel Bandoumel went down with season-ending injuries.

If Hoiberg wants more of a defensive lineup with less scoring potential, Josiah Allick could play the 4 while everyone else stays put: Jamarques Lawrence at the 1, Keisei Tominaga the 2, Williams the 3, Allick the 4 and Rienk Mast the 5. That was the lineup to start the season when Gary wasn't available.

Allick's energy and defensive peskiness can make an impact when he plays under control — but Allick has 21 turnovers this season.

If Hoiberg opts for more of a scoring lineup against Northwestern, CJ Wilcher could come off the bench to start at the 3. In his last nine games, Wilcher has scored in double-figures six times and is shooting 51 percent from 3-point range (19-of-37) and 100 percent from the free-throw line (17-of-17).

If Wilcher does start, though, Williams would need to bump down to the 4, which could cause problems for Nebraska defensively in the Big Ten against bigger, stronger frontcourt players. Williams is a good player and Nebraska needs his offense, but defending Big Ten bigs isn't where his strengths are.

The Huskers are in grave need of size and rebounding, though. Blaise Keita provides both, but the 6-11, 241-pound big is still rehabbing from offseason ankle surgery and hasn't played in a game since Feb. 19 of last season.

Matar Diop will also be an option for size and rebounding. The 6-10, 213-pound true freshman is extremely athletic for someone his size, but he's also very raw and has only played 53 minutes in 11 games.

What about guards Jarron Coleman and Eli Rice? There are pros and cons to both when they're on the court.

The 6-5 Coleman can be effective as a big-bodied ball-handler in transition and is averaging 2.6 assists per game in only 10 games. But Coleman hasn't played since Dec. 29 against South Carolina State and is shooting 23 percent from the field and 19 percent from 3. He has 17 turnovers and struggled defensively.

Rice is capable of providing instant scoring — his 11-point, four-rebound game in 18 minutes against Iowa was something fans should get excited about. He's also shooting 40 percent from 3 on 1.8 attempts per game.

But the 6-8 guard is still developing his strength and defensive acumen like the majority of all first-year players in the middle of adjusting to college basketball. However, there's little time to wait for the development after Gary's injury. Rice needs to step up and will likely get more than his average of nine minutes per game going forward.

This weekend's events include a private dinner for basketball alumni and their families on Friday, including recognition of the 1993-94 Big Eight Tournament title team. All of the alumni in town will be recognized during halftime ceremonies, while former head coach Danny Nee will be honored during the first half.