Feb. 15, 2008

Milwaukee - Freshman forward Trevor Mbakwe has received medical clearance for game competition and is available for this evening's contest with Pittsburgh. Mbakwe had been sidelined since November following surgery to repair an isolated fibular collateral ligament sprain to his left knee.

"Trevor has made excellent progress in rehabilitation of his knee injury and he has passed all of the necessary orthopedic and functional tests," said team physician Dr. Ted Gertel.

He received clearance to resume basketball activities several weeks ago by the team's medical staff.

"It got to the point that my rehab workouts were harder than actually practicing and playing. I'm glad I was finally allowed to test the knee and to be cleared. Waiting has been really hard but I knew all along that at some point I was going to be able to come back and help our team this season," said Mbakwe.

Mbakwe (M-bahk-we), a native of St. Paul, Minn., averaged 21.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 4.5 blocks during his senior season at St. Bernard's High School in 2007.

"Trevor made it clear to us early in the rehabilitation process his desire to return this season and we told him that the possibility to return would be a decision made by our medical staff," said head coach Tom Crean. "He worked extremely hard throughout his rehabilitation and our team is excited to have him back."