Gophers sophomore guard Amir Coffey isn't cleared yet to play Tuesday at Iowa after tweaking his previously injured right shoulder last week against Northwestern.
Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said Monday that Coffey isn't practicing and is day-to-day. The 6-foot-8 Hopkins native played the last two games after being out for a five-game stretch with the shoulder injury.
Coffey had 15 points, five turnovers and four rebounds in 32 minutes before fouling out in last Tuesday's 77-69 loss against Northwestern at home. He tweaked his shoulder on a dunk that brought the Gophers within 66-63 with 4:15 left in the second half.
"I don't want to say re-injured it without knowing the specifics of what exactly it is," Pitino said. "But you could tell that hurt him a little bit. So we go day-to-day with all this stuff … there's a protocol with what you do. You never want to rush guys back. You want to make sure they're 100 percent. We'll continue to do that and see where it goes."
Coffey's left handed, so the injury doesn't affect his shooting arm. He has worn heavy tape on his right shoulder the last two games.
After a Jan. 3 victory over Illinois, Coffey was diagnosed with a humeral avulsion glenohumeral ligament (HAGL) lesion, which is a ligament tear near the front of the shoulder.
The estimated timeline for recovery was at least six weeks, which would have had him back in February. Coffey said recently that his timetable changed after progressing quicker in rehab.
"It's been tough doing physical therapy all day," Coffey said after making his return Jan. 20 against Ohio State. "It was kind of a weird injury. I just had to battle through it."
