Ole Miss’ Rasheed Brooks ‘doing good,’ not yet cleared to play

Published 5:54 pm Monday, January 23, 2017

Andy Kennedy expects Rasheed Brooks to rejoin Ole Miss’ men’s basketball team at some point. He’s just not sure when.

The Rebels’ coach said Brooks is “doing good” as he continues to recover from the seizure he suffered during the second half of Ole Miss’ win over Tennessee on TuesdayThe senior guard spent Tuesday night and Wednesday at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford undergoing tests before being released Thursday night, and Brooks will have a final round of tests done, Kennedy said, before he’s cleared to practice or play again.

“He has not done any physical activity other than what the doctors have done,” Kennedy said. “Initially they put him through a stress test, so he hasn’t done any basketball stuff.

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“Everything’s come back clear. Now they’re just trying to get a time and make sure nothing has transpired between then and now.”

Kennedy doubted Brooks would be cleared in time to play Wednesday when the Rebels host Texas A&M (6:30 p.m., ESPN2) but didn’t rule out the possibility.

“There are some things I’m not privy to because of confidentiality, so forth and so on,” Kennedy said. “(Tuesday) we mark the seven-day window from when it happened. I think that was the first hurdle that needed to be cleared, and now how quickly they do some of these other tests and how quickly they get back the results I think will determine what happens next.”

Kennedy said neither he nor Brooks have gotten word as to what exactly triggered the seizure, though it’s believed dehydration played a part. Fellow guard Terence Davis recalled Brooks saying he felt like he was cramping shortly before collapsing to the floor near Ole Miss’ bench during a timeout. Brooks was wheeled off on a stretcher.

“Now they check your hydration levels, we’re this and we’re that,” Kennedy said. “Dehydration is something that’s taken very, very seriously. Our training staff does a great job monitoring that daily, yet this still transpired. They really think it was set off by dehydration.”

Ole Miss rallied from a 13-point deficit in the final 15 minutes to beat Tennessee before knocking off Missouri on the road Saturday. The Rebels have a chance to get to .500 in league play for the first time against A&M, and whether he’s with them or not, teammates said Brooks is a source of motivation for them after a 1-4 start in the conference.

“It shouldn’t be that way, but sometimes the grind can get you and it was kind of getting us,” junior guard Deandre Burnett said. “But the incident with ‘Sheed kind of rejuvenated us and woke us up kind of. We’re just happy he’s back and just want to play hard for him for the rest of the season. ”