January 20, 1998
Texas A&M junior forward Calvin Davis, who has played sparingly in Big 12 Conference play, has been diagnosed with a herniated disk in his back and will miss at least the next 10 days, Aggies coach Tony Barone said Tuesday.
The injury was diagnosed after a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test was performed on Monday. An honorable mention All-Big 12 player as a sophomore, Davis has missed two league games and played sparingly in two others. He suffered the injury in practice on Jan. 5 and did not play against Baylor on Jan. 7 or against Iowa State on Saturday.
"Calvin will undergo treatment for the next 10 days and then will be evaluated," Barone said. "Right now, it looks like he will have to have surgery. We anticipated Calvin to be an All- Big 12 player for us this year but the most important thing is for him to get better. If he has to have surgery, it will pretty much incapacitate him for 6-8 weeks. Our biggest concern is for him to be able to function academically. Basketball is secondary at this point."
Prior to the injury, Davis was the only Big 12 player to rank in the top 10 in the league in six statistical categories - scoring (16.2), rebounding (7.9), field goal percentage (.545), free throw percentage (.800), blocked shots (2.6) and offensive rebounds (3.4). A pre-season second- team All-Big 12 pick by Athlon magazine, he scored in double figures in 10 of the first 11 games and posted three double-doubles.
Since the injury, he averaged just 12.5 minutes in brief appearances against Oklahoma and Kansas, averaging just 2.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and missing all seven of his field goal attempts.
Last year, Davis led the Aggies in scoring (13.3) and rebounding (7.0) and was one of only four Big 12 players to rank in the top 15 in the league in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots and field goal percentage. As a freshman, the Killeen High School product was named to the Southwest Conference All-Freshman Team.
Davis is the second starter returning from last year's team to be sidelined with a back injury this season. Prior to the season, senior center Dario Quesada was diagnosed with a bulging disk in his back and was lost for the year.