“We’ve been trying to monitor him. I think this brace is helping. He’s got a little bit of a bone bruise in his knee. He said that he’s actually a little bit on the uptick,” Pope said of Harding. “It had been feeling worse and worse and worse for about three weeks. The last few days, he said it’s feeling a little better. I’m like 98 percent sure that he’s lying to me but I’m taking it. I hope he’s telling the truth. He’s a tough kid. He just wants to help the team.”