COLUMBIA — Missouri coach Frank Haith has been careful not to rush back Laurence Bowers, who has missed the last five games because of a sprained right medial collateral ligament.

This makes sense, considering Bowers’ importance. A 6-foot-8 senior forward, Bowers is MU’s leading scorer. He missed all of last year because of an injury to his other knee.

But caution aside, if you ask point guard Phil Pressey whether Bowers, who suited up but did not play in Saturday’s 81-59 win over Vanderbilt, will be ready tonight against Louisiana State, Pressey’s answer reveals plenty.

“I’ve seen him dunk, so I feel like that’s good enough for me,” Pressey, a junior co-captain, said with a laugh. “But we’re taking precautions like crazy, so I wouldn’t know.”

During Missouri’s weekly media session Monday, Haith said he watched Bowers practice Sunday and wanted to see him “take a hit” in practice before he decided his fate for Wednesday night’s game.

Later in the day, Haith seemed to indicate during his weekly Tiger Talk radio show that he’d seen Bowers take another positive step in that day’s practice.

“He practiced today full speed, did everything today,” Haith said. “He’ll have a shot at (playing). His conditioning and timing will take some time … he’s not going to be great (immediately). But … it will be nice to have him back.”

For his part, Bowers — whose Twitter handle is MU_Highflyer21 — tweeted to Mississippi forward Reginald Buckner on Monday that he expects to play. Both players are from Memphis.

Bowers wrote: “playing Wednesday at LSU.. Been killing me sitting out bro.” His teammates can tell.

“He sat out a whole year, then to come back and play as well as he was and then get hurt, that was devastating,” Pressey said. “But he’s going to be out there as soon as he can. I know he wants to be out there on Wednesday, and I hope he can.”

Senior forward Alex Oriakhi said Bowers did some post work Sunday and could tell his knee was bothering him, but sophomore guard Jabari Brown said Bowers looked “fluid” to him.

“He looks good,” Brown said, “I know he’s eager to play. He’s my roommate on the road, so all he’s been talking about is getting back out there.”

But if Bowers does play, as expected, he will be eased back into the fold. Wednesday night’s game against LSU, 10-7 overall and 1-5 in the SEC, starts at 7 at the Pete Maravich Center. Missouri enters with a 15-4 record, including a 4-2 mark in the SEC.

“We’re going to monitor it,” Haith said. “I don’t think we jump right in (with) him playing 30 minutes, if he does play. His minutes will be monitored for sure.”