Sometimes injuries occur in a split-second. A nasty collision with a defender. A player goes up for the ball and comes down on their knee wrong.
But sometimes injuries are built up over time. Players start with something that feels like a sore muscle, but continued exertion and the pride of wanting to be on the floor with their teammates eventually causes the problem to grow.
Ikenna Smart suffered from the latter. The junior forward had soreness in his back that nagged him last season. Six feet 10 inches and 241 pounds is a lot of body to support with a bad back.