TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Terrance Shannon is “very sore” after he suffered a neck sprain Saturday in Florida State's loss at Virginia, Seminoles assistant coach Stan Jones said.
Shannon fell to the floor after hitting his head on Evan Nolte’s hip while going for a loose ball late in the game. The junior was placed on a backboard and then a stretcher.
A 6-foot-8 forward who is the team’s leading rebounder, Shannon stayed in a hospital in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday night with Florida State assistant coach Corey Williams, but doctors allowed Shannon to make the trip back to Tallahassee on Sunday afternoon.
“They’re still doing some tests to see if there was any bruising to the spinal cord,” Jones said. “In regards to his playing status, that still remains to be seen.”
Jones said that Shannon has a lot of pain but has full mobility. But he later said that Shannon could be out for “what looks like an extended period of time.”
Florida State (10-7, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) has dropped consecutive conference games to North Carolina and Virginia. The Seminoles return home on Thursday to play Clemson, which they defeated 71-66 on the road on Jan. 5. The Seminoles then hit the road again on Sunday to play Miami.
But Florida State has been outrebounded in its past five games, including by 22 in a loss to North Carolina and then by eight to Virginia. And the Seminoles could continue to suffer without Shannon, who averages 8.5 points (third on the team) and 6.3 rebounds per game (first).
Forward Okaro White is second on the team with 6.2 rebounds per game, but Florida State gets little rebounding help from a trio of young 7-foot centers. Kiel Turpin, Boris Bojanovsky and Michael Ojo combine for only 5 rebounds per game.
