BJ Edwards injury update: SMU guard carried off court during first half vs. Cal

SMU guard BJ Edwards was injured late in the first half against Cal on Wednesday night. Edwards was going up for a block attempt against a Chris Bell layup attempt when he appeared to jam his ankle on the base of the goal’s support post.

Edwards had to be carried off the court for the Mustangs with 3:38 left in the first half. He averages 13.0 points per game for the Mustangs this season, a career-best to go along with 5.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds on average.

He does a little bit of everything for SMU while he’s on the court. At the time he left the game, Edwards scored five points, logged four rebounds and assisted of three passes in 16 minutes.

The athletic training staff carried him to a training table to the left of the SMU bench, which was visible on the ACC Network broadcast. Training staff appeared to take off his right shoe before the halftime break as they tended to his injury.

Coming out of the break, however, his Mustangs teammates came up to him one-by-one to dap him up before re-taking the court for the second half. He had ice on his foot, rather than his ankle.

SMU later revealed that Edwards would be “doubtful” to return. If he’s unable to, the Mustangs lineup will be down to seven players over the final 20 minutes.

This game serves as a must-win for both squads as SMU and Cal both sit in the middle of the pack in the ACC this season. The Golden Bears in particular entered Wednesday on ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi’s bubble. They found themselves under the ‘First Four Out‘ category with Lunardi saying the Bears are “likely in with a win.”

At 19-8 (8-6 ACC), the Mustangs are firmly in the NCAA Tournament if the bracket was finalized today. ESPN has SMU as an 8-seed in their latest projection.

A senior, Edwards has played three seasons for SMU. However, he began his career playing for Rick Barnes at Tennessee as he is a Knoxville native.