With five games remaining in the regular season, Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall decided to shut down freshman forward Jabari McGhee for the remainder of the season, he announced on Friday afternoon, according to Ben Fredrickson of the Knoxville News Sentinel. McGhee will be ruled a redshirt.
McGhee, a three-star recruit entering Knoxville, had been out since Dec. 18 with an injured right foot. He had appeared in eight games for the Volunteers, averaging 3.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. The timely of the injury only added to Tennessee’s depth up front, as transfer big man Dominic Woodson had left the program a week prior.
“He could probably play in another week, but now you’re talking about maybe the last two or three games of the season, and the conference tournament,” Tyndall told the News Sentinel. “And I just don’t feel like it’s worth bringing him back in limited minutes, in a limited role, risking the possibility of him injuring it again, when you can redshirt him and he’s going to be a really good player for us down the road.”
Tennessee, which is 14-11 (6-7 SEC) on the season, travels to Ole Miss for a conference matchup on Saturday afternoon.