Josh Cunningham could return soon for Dayton Flyers

Miller says injured sophomore looked good in practice

The Dayton Flyers recorded their most lopsided victory of the season, routing Duquesne 90-53 on Saturday at UD Arena. Then Archie Miller gave UD fans even more good news with some optimistic comments about forward Josh Cunningham.

Cunningham, who has been sidelined since the second game of the season with a torn ankle ligament, returned to practice this week and was limited to non-contact drills. It sounds more and more as if he will play again this season. It’s only a question of when.

“He’s got to get reps in practice (Sunday),” Miller said. “He’s got to get reps Monday. I don’t think he’ll play Tuesday (8 p.m. vs. St. Joseph’s at UD Arena). He’s got to get reps on Wednesday. As we head to Rhode Island (7 p.m. Friday), we’ll see where he’s at. Post Rhode Island, we have six left. After Rhode Island, maybe we’ll test him out.”

If and when Cunningham plays, Dayton will have its full roster together for the first time. Kendall Pollard was hurt when Cunningham was on the floor in the first two games.

“I think everybody in this organization wants Josh to be out there,” Miller said. “Unfortunate circumstances early this season took him out. We all felt that pain. We watched him rehab. We watched him go through it. Having him back on the floor right now is a good thing. As the days progress, he’s got to get aggressive with his participation as he can. He’s got to try to mix it up as much as he can. We have to get him to have confidence with bodies running around. That’s the thing with him. Josh wants to play. I think our entire team wants Josh to be back in the mix. We’ve never had him out there with the other guys. We’ve always had a guy down. It’d be nice. As we finish, if he can round into form, it give us another physical body.”

Cunningham was cleared to practice late last week, and Miller said, “He looked pretty good. He needs to mentally and physically get back into rhythm. It’s really hard to take 10 to 12 weeks off and say, ‘Go be Josh.’ Josh is trying to figure it out.”

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