Kevin Foster is back in practice, going full contact and everything else on the floor, and played 19 minutes off the bench in the Bulldogs' season-opening victory over Illinois State.

But the Fresno State forward still is shy of 100 percent in his return from ankle and Achilles' tendon injuries suffered in a scooter accident before the Oct. 15 start of practice.

''It's OK. It's still sore, but a lot better than it was,'' Foster said. ''I'm still getting treatment three times a day. I'm still, I'd say, a week away from being 100 percent.''

Once there, the transfer from the College of Central Florida is expected to become a scoring presence for the Bulldogs to go along with guard Kevin Olekaibe.

''Having had that setback and now working his way back through a little bit, it's going to take a game for him to settle on in with what we're doing because he didn't get the (practice) reps,'' Coach Rodney Terry said. ''That's the one thing that shows a lot of times when you have a setback and haven't been in the rotation, your timing, understanding execution in terms of what your job responsibilities are, he's learning all that right now on the fly but he's having to learn that under game situations.''

Foster hit only 3 of 9 shots and was one of three Bulldogs to have four turnovers in the victory over Illinois State, but he said he could tell through the first half that he got sped up and was pressing when he was on the floor. ''I was in practice for only four days and out for a month,'' he said. ''I was eager. I was so happy to be out there because I was out for so long.''