The return of Jared Garcia couldn’t happen soon enough for Tulsa basketball.

Although it may take a while for Garcia to get back to mid-season form, Tulsa’s need for a quality inside player who started every game last season is great.

In Garcia’s first game back against his former team Charlotte, he had 11 points and 3 rebounds in 8 minutes in the first half.

His teammates know the value of having Garcia back.

“People don’t really understand, especially from being in practice, that JG has a big heart,” said starting TU point guard Dwon Odom. “And all he wants to do is hoop. It was really big having our brother out there.

“And JG can do so many things on the court, both offensively and defensively. It felt good having him out there. That’s one thing we really missed. The team was able to build off of that energy and was able to put a complete game together from start to finish.”

Garcia chipped in 6 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks at South Florida on Saturday, as Tulsa held a 10-point lead with under five minutes to play. Unfortunately, USF used a 19-2 run to complete a late comeback, as TU fell 63-56.

Tulsa (8-10, 2-3 AAC) will need Garcia’s energy and skill level when the Hurricane hosts East Carolina (10-9, 2-4) on Tuesday.

Coming back from injuries to both of his knees isn’t easy, but Garcia is ready to come back. The recent court ruling of not counting juco years against college eligibility gave Garcia an extra year, so this year won’t be his last year of college basketball. Until that ruling, Garcia was planning on sitting out the season since his rehab had taken so long.

The knees have recovered sufficiently for Garcia to come back.

“A couple of months back around when the season started my knees were really hurting,” Garica said. “I would go a day, and the next two days, they’d be aching and painful, a little bit. But more recently, they’ve just been a little achy, just because of fatigue and going through practice and rehab, stuff like that.”