Starkville - During his press conference on Tuesday, Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans provided updates on the injuries to guard Dashawn "Rams" Davis and forward KeShawn Murphy.
Davis was the Bulldogs' starting point guard last season after transferring from Oregon State. The 6-foot-2 senior averaged 8.3 points, 3.6 assists, and 1.7 steals to help lead Mississippi State to the NCAA Tournament in Jans' first season.
Davis did not play during Mississippi State's foreign tour in Portugal this summer due to an injury. The Bronx, NY native has progressed well, however, and is back practicing with the team in non-contact drills. He is expected to become a full participant soon which is good news with the season opener against Arizona State just over a month away.
"Rams is in a position now where he is in a practice uniform and he is doing some things on the court 1-on-0 outside of basketball practice. He is starting to get into some of our non-contact portions of practice," Jans said. "I anticipate him being back on the floor sooner than later in terms of physical contact and full practice."
Murphy, on the other hand, is going to be out quite a bit longer. The 6-foot-10 redshirt sophomore suffered a foot injury not long ago and was seen on a scooter during practice. Jans said that Murphy is not expected to return to action until around Christmas time.
"KeShawn still has a long way to go. We don’t expect him to be back until Christmas time,'" Jans said. "We're hopeful that his recovery and rehab goes well as it has thus far."
As a redshirt freshman last season, Murphy averaged 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in a limited role. It isn't first time that the Birmingham native will miss extensive time with an injury, as he was sidelined for their entire 2021-22 season.
Jans does not plan to rush Davis and Murphy back from injury. He wants to make sure they come back on their own terms and fully ready to go.
"I don’t rush them. They come back on their own terms," Jans said. "We want them to be really confident in their bodies and their shape and their injured part of their body to get on that court and compete."
