Before Kansas University’s men’s basketball squad scrimmaged Saturday, swingman J.R. Giddens performed aerial acrobatics during layup drills.
Each baseline dunk looked effortless, but once the game started, the sophomore showed signs of the injuries that plagued him throughout most of last season and this summer.
Giddens, who still is not 100-percent healthy, is just getting back into action after surgeries this offseason on his left knee and right foot. To boot, Giddens bruised his right shoulder last week in practice.
“I can’t shoot for nothin’ right now,” Giddens said. “Right now, I’m just trying to take it slow. I’m not trying to move my body too fast. After a couple of days of practice, I thought I was gonna die, I’ve never felt so slow in my life. I’m not trying to do anything too amazing.”
In 25 minutes during the scrimmage, Giddens went 4-for-10 from the field and scored 11 points. Three of his four successful attempts came from behind the three-point arc.
Giddens at times Saturday winced in pain and grabbed his sore shoulder, but KU coach Bill Self finds little cause for concern.
“I think his legs looked good,” Self said. “He nicked his shoulder up pretty good the other day, but his legs feel good, and his foot healed nicely. He’s not in great shape yet, but give him another two or three weeks and he’ll be bouncing around like he was before.”
Giddens is being held out of practice today, but Self said Giddens would be ready for next weekend’s Canada trip.
Another Jayhawk still working his way back from offseason surgery is senior guard Keith Langford.
Langford looked solid Saturday, leading the White squad with 15 points, but he still is trying to regain his explosiveness just months after knee surgery. Like Giddens, Langford is working through a more recent ailment, having tweaked his back this week.
“My back is fine, but for my knee, after being out for four months and then trying to come back and go full speed and keep up is kind of tough,” Langford said. “That was probably the best I’ve moved in a while. I gotta keep getting back into shape, drop a couple of more pounds, and I’ll be all right.”
Langford was sharp during the first two 10-minute periods of Saturday’s scrimmage, but sat on the bench for the majority of the third 10-minute frame. No stranger to knee injuries, Langford knows that the key to being at full strength is not getting too far ahead of himself.
“It’s hard first of all because you have an injury, and you try to play on it for so long, and then after you play on it, you have to rehab it again,” Langford said. “Sitting out for four months and coming back and being thrown right back into the fire, you’re kind of behind, but I’ll catch up.”