Wake Forest’s Woods Is Expected to Resume Practice

Wake Forest’s 7-foot-1 center Loren Woods, who has missed five games after being allowed to leave the team for five games because of emotional troubles, is scheduled to return to practice Monday.

Woods was second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in blocked shots and fourth in rebounding before leaving the team on Jan. 16. It is unclear when Woods would play.

Woods’ periodic mood swings affected his play and concerned Coach Dave Odom.

“The amount of pressure that he places on himself regarding his own performance and our team’s performance is, I believe, unhealthy,” said Odom at the time Woods left the team.

Odom said Woods’ mother, Colleen, came from St. Louis to visit her son this week.

“He’s gone through a hard 2 1/2 weeks--very hard,” Odom said. “At this point, I’m cautiously optimistic . . . [he’s] headed in the right direction.”

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Illinois Wesleyan’s Dennie Bridges became the 31st college coach to win 600th games as the Division III Titans defeated North Central, 87-74, at Bloomington, Ill. Bridges has a 600-294 record in 33 seasons at Illinois Wesleyan.