Oklahoma star Cade Cunningham left the men’s basketball game against Baylor on Thursday after rolling his left ankle, but managed to go back to the locker room under his own power after losing 81-70 to the Cowboys.
“It happened right in front of me there,” said coach Mike Boynton. “We haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary other than stepping on a guy’s foot. We’ll get an evaluation and as soon as we find out more, we’ll pass it on.”
Cunningham dribbled past the left side of the floor in the last minute when he stepped on Baylor’s foot, Davion Mitchell, and fell to the floor. He grabs his left foot before walking on the edge and never turns around.
“I’m always worried about his future,” Boynton said of Cunningham, the No. 1 seed in this year’s NBA draft. “No matter how much we win and represent our program, my commitment to these children is always first. So I want to make sure it’s OK. If it’s OK, he’ll keep working with us. If it’s something worse than it feels right now, then we’ll evaluate how we move forward. “
When asked how serious the injury was, Boynton said, “I have no idea. It didn’t look like that. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t want to give information in any way. I saw him forcefully return to the locker room. That’s why we have coaches and doctors – they will give me information and I will follow their guidelines. “
Prior to the injury, Cunningham kept Oklahoma No. 17 in the game against No. 3 Baylor. He finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists – with 20 of those points in the second half. The Cowboys reduced Baylor’s lead by 13 points to four points in the final three minutes, but the Bears pulled down on the free throw line.
Cunningham, a 6-meter, 8-year-old goalkeeper, has an average of 19.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists this season.