Freeman practices, may return Saturday
Austin Freeman has been called many things this season, including Georgetown’s leading scorer, the hottest player in the Big East, and a guy who’s playing as well as anyone in the country.
This week, the Hoyas junior guard added other labels, including under the weather, and eventually, diabetic.
But Georgetown isn’t ready to call the junior guard unavailable for Saturday’s regular season finale against Cincinnati.
“I don’t know if I want to put another label on him,” said Hoyas head coach John Thompson III. “He’s got enough labels thrown on him already this week. We have to evaluate and just figure out what we can do. It probably would be day-to-day, just because every day may be a different experience. We just have to collectively help Austin, and along with Austin, learn his body and how to best treat it.”
Freeman originally took ill during pregame warm-ups before Georgetown hosted Notre Dame last weekend, struggling mightily in a loss to the Fighting Irish with what the team thought was a stomach virus.
He then traveled with his teammates to Morgantown, W.Va., on Sunday to face West Virginia but left the team and returned to campus Monday. He checked into Georgetown University Hospital, where he later was diagnosed with diabetes.
With his blood sugar levels stabilized and now under constant monitoring by Dr. Stephen Clement, head of the Diabetes Center at Georgetown University Hospital, Freeman returned to practice Wednesday and was expected to participate fully again Thursday.
“He hit every shot he threw up,” said junior guard Chris Wright of Wednesday’s practice. “It’s the same Austin. Nothing’s changed on the court.”
A sense of relief has taken over for the Hoyas (19-9, 9-8 Big East), now that they know why Freeman wasn’t feeling well. For now, their four losses in the last fives games and the Bearcats (16-13, 7-10) seem far less important. Clement is expected to be present at every team practice or game for the remainder of the year. For Freeman and everyone around, the first order of business is helping him stay healthy.
But the postseason is still running a strong second.
“This education process we anticipate being a short period,” said Thompson. “I say that to say that he will be back, if not Saturday, this year, 100 percent, and it may be Saturday. I don’t know what the timeframe is going to take for us to learn how to monitor and work with him. But we will get to that point, and with all the experts and support we have, I don’t anticipate it being long.”
Freeman said he feels fine, and he’s prepared to be honest with himself about his condition. But he’s staying positive and focusing on returning as soon as possible.
“It’s going to mean a lot because this is what I love to do,” said Freeman. “I love to play basketball. Just for me to just be back on the basketball court and playing with my teammates is just going to mean a lot for me.”
