Gamecocks basketball gets good news on Justin Minaya injury front

South Carolina men’s basketball and coach Frank Martin had been waiting for March 4 for forward Justin Minaya to get his cast off after thumb/wrist surgery.

Martin spoke Thursday night on his weekly Carolina Calls appearance, and he had good news: Minaya is cleared for activity after missing nine games.

That doesn’t mean he’ll necessarily play this weekend against Vanderbilt, but it’s certainly a possibility.

“He got back earlier today,” Martin said. “The doctors cleared him to resume activities. So he did some stuff on the court today and he’ll be at practice tomorrow. He’s got this wacky looking splint that he’s going to have to play with, and it’s going to have to be taped and padded and, but he’s got movement of the wrist and movement of four fingers.”

Martin said assistant Bruce Shingler worked with Minaya on Thursday.

Minaya was the team’s most heavily-used player before his injury, a versatile skeleton key that allowed them to play different kinds of lineups. At 6-foot-6, he could be a big wing or smaller forward who still delivered toughness, rebounding and rim protection.

Minaya was the team’s second-leading rebounder at 6.1 per game, with 1.9 on the offensive glass. He also averaged 7.8 points, 2.1 assists (third on the team) and nearly a block a game. His shooting had been down this season, but his last full season saw him shoot 36.4 percent from 3.

The head coach said he won’t have the final say on if his redshirt sophomore can play, and that is in the hands of others.

“I’m the dumb guy with the Xs and the Os,” Martin said. “The people that make the intelligent decisions, they’ll decide whether or not (Minaya can play), which starts with him being honest with our trainers and doctors. If he feels good and they’ll decide and go from there, but he was cleared for activity.”