Nebraska basketball: Hopes dim for return of Jordy Tshimanga

Jordy Tshimanga did not practice again on Sunday and it appears the Huskers starting center is dead set against returning to the team.

The Nebraska basketball team is smack in the middle of the best season it’s had in quite some years. That’s just part of what makes the apparent departure of Jordy Tshimanga so strange.

Jordy Tshimanga, who has struggled this season also played his best game of the year against Wisconsin. Right after that game, it appears the center decided to leave the Huskers.

Cornhuskers head coach Tim Miles has said that he hopes Jordy stays. The Lincoln Journal Star reports the two men have not met since the initial meeting where Tshimanga told Miles he wanted to transfer.

The center sat out the Huskers’ loss to Penn State. He also sat out practice Saturday and Sunday.

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It seems unlikely he’ll play against Illinois on Monday night. Miles did say that he expected to meet with the player either Sunday night or Monday morning.

So far, there hasn’t been any more developments about this story. Tshimanga asked for his release earlier last week and right now it certainly seems as though he’s on the way out.

If he does end up leaving, it’s a bit of a body blow to a team hoping to get on the NCAA Tournament bubble. While Duby Okeke and Tanner Borchardt are decent players they’re better as backups.

Tshimanga is and was supposed to be the starter for the team. The big question now is whether Miles can pull a hail mary and get him to stay, or whether the team can move on.

Things are complicated by the fact that Tshimanga is a popular player on the team. As Miles said on Sunday, “he’s a sweetheart. He lights people’s eyes up. He and Roby, I get so many emails about those guys and how they are in the airport or meeting a young kid at a tailgating thing.”

Now the Nebraska basketball team will have to sit and wait and hope Jordy Tshimanga will return.