Houston's Marcus Sasser gives injury update ahead of Auburn basketball March Madness game
BIRMINGHAM — Auburn basketball will soon have to deal with one of the best players in the country.
Marcus Sasser, who has been battling a groin injury and only played 14 minutes in No. 1-seeded Houston's win over Northern Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, said Friday that he plans to play against the Tigers.
Sasser's teammate, Jamal Shead, who has been dealing with a knee injury that Cougars (32-5) coach Kelvin Sampson is concerned about, according to CBS Sports reporter Tracy Wolfson, also said he expects to play versus Auburn (21-12) on Saturday (6:10 p.m. CT, TBS).
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"I'm playing tomorrow, 100%," Sasser said at a news availability. "I've been doing a lot of rehab treatment since I got back to the hotel yesterday and it's going good."
Shead added: "Yeah, I'm good. (I'm) 100% going tomorrow."
Sasser and Shead are two of Houston's top three leading scorers. The duo combines for 27.1 points, 8.5 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 3.4 steals. Sasser was named the AAC's Player of the Year and Shead was tabbed as the Defensive Player of the Year.
"He's another dynamic player, but we're going to guard him just like anybody else," Auburn guard Wendell Green Jr. said of Sasser. "Same defensive principles for everybody. We don't really change our defensive principles for one player, maybe certain things, but not really all combined. ...
"We're still out there scouting like he's going to play. ... We're still preparing for him like he will play."
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Marcus Sasser injury update before Houston-Auburn in March Madness
