Injuries in the sports world can hurt the dynamic of a team and affect an athlete’s career. Redshirt junior guard Marquell Fraser felt the effect last season when he suffered a torn labrum.

Fraser wanted to play through the injury and get surgery by the end of the season but realized his hips wouldn’t make it through to the end. He went through hip surgery and rehabilitation in the summer.

“He worked as hard as anybody in our program over the summer to get himself back healthy and be able to play at a high level,” Idaho Interim Head Coach Zac Claus said. “Over the course of the fall, it was how many days and how hard we can push him. I trust him to know when he feels good, when he needs a day where we lessen his load or pull back and don’t let him practice.”

Fraser made his official return against Evergreen State College on Nov. 5. He played 22 minutes in the game and would appear in five straight games for Idaho before he was limited to 11 minutes against North Dakota State on Nov. 26 due to injury.

Fraser had limited participation in practice and sat-out. He returned a month later and has not missed a game since. Fraser is surrounded by a supporting cast that encourages him day-by-day.

“(My teammates) were all there for me throughout the surgery, post-surgery and even now,” Fraser said. “They’ve always been here for me since day one, always had my back and helped me through this hard year and a half.”

By staying healthy and consistently improving his game offensively and defensively, Fraser made his way into the starting rotation against Southern Utah. He started the next six games with an increase in his playing time from 14 minutes to an average of 25.2 minutes. His career-high of

22 points came in the first meeting with Montana State and Fraser has averaged 7.5 points with 4.6 rebounds this season

“Playing with tremendous teammates like we have right now, practices are really challenging,” Fraser said. “Having a player like Trevon Allen is really nice because of his offensive capabilities and he really sets in the defense to help us create for ourselves. Pushing each other in practice is what has really helped me get to the level I am right now.”

In his last seven games, Fraser has made an impact. Between those games, he has averaged 7.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists. His 10 points against Sacramento State helped Idaho break its six-game losing streak.

“It felt wonderful because I know we worked so hard, throughout practice and in games, we really want to win. We do the best of our capabilities to win, especially with us losing a lot of close games this year.” Fraser said. “It’s like that sometimes and it hits you mentally but just to pull one off boosted our confidence. Hopefully, we get to pull out a lot more for this season.”

As Idaho advances further into the season with six games remaining, Fraser and his teammates will make a big push for the Big Sky Championships.

Fraser is third in scoring and second in assists on the team. He continues to make an impact for the Vandals as the season comes to a close.

“We’ll continue to lean on him,” Claus said. “The ball is going to be in his hands, we’re looking for him to make plays off the bounce and tough winning plays at the defensive end. It’s going to be more of the same as what we expect from him.”

Armin Mesinovicv can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @arminmesinovic.