K-State senior Dean Wade receives help leaving the court after hurting his right foot by Xavier Sneed (20) and team trainer Luke Subaer during the second half against the Georgia State on December 15, 2018, at Bramlage Coliseum.



As if not having Dean Wade in the lineup was a tough enough pill for Bruce Weber and Kansas State to swallow, the timetable on Wade’s recovery is probably going to be an even tougher one to get down.

On Tuesday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum, Weber spoke to the local media in Manhattan, where Wade’s injury was the center of attention. Weber said that Wade’s injury — a slight tear in a tendon in his foot — has a questionable timetable.

“We’ve been told it could be three weeks, four weeks, it could be eight weeks,” Weber said of a recovery timeline. “I think it’s different in every person. We’ve just got to hope and pray the pain goes down, the swelling goes down and then they can get going on rehab. Hope he’s back sooner than later.”

The injury itself was actually one that didn’t look all that severe at the time. Wade pulled up for a normal jump shot and simply came down, as normal. There was no awkward landing or nothing that he landed on that would usually point to such an injury.

But the pain immediately came to Wade, as he grabbed his foot and immediately knew something was hurt. He would go to the bench and have his injury examined by team doctors before leaving Bramlage Coliseum on crutches.

An MRI on Sunday morning confirmed the fears of Weber and his team.

“It’s a tendon in his foot, he had a slight tear,” Weber said. “Just a freak thing if you go back and watch it. He shot a jump shot, landed on his foot like you always do. He backed up a step and then all of a sudden he was in extreme pain. He said it was way worse than last year.”

Wade had been a staple for the Wildcats through the first nine games of this season, averaging 13.6 points per game, the second-highest on the team, and a team-high 7.8 rebounds per game. Wade was also dishing out 3.2 assists per game, which was only behind Kamau Stokes at 3.4 points per game.

From the sounds of it, though, Weber is going to have to dip into his bench and shuffle some things around in order to move forward. Wade is not expected to be back for a significant amount of time, so don’t think that this will be a short recovery and he’ll be back on the floor any time soon.

“I hope not, I don’t think so,” Weber said when asked if this was a season-ending injury for Wade. “It’s just how quick it recovers. Some of it is how bad it is. They know there’s a slight tear. How bad that is and how his body comes back from it.”