ATHENS, Ohio -- In a poignant feature, Lisa Salters from ESPN's "SportsCenter" profiled Ohio basketball player Delvar Barrett on a recent broadcast.

Barrett, a junior economics major, must juggle his coursework and athletic career daily by also providing care for his mother, Vivian, a diabetic stricken with blindness two years ago. The two share a Carriage Hill apartment, where Delvar wakes up at 6:30 every day to help test his mother's blood sugar, administer her medicine and cook the pair breakfast.

"Some people find basketball is their getaway," he told Salters. "I don't. My getaway is being there with my mother. That's my getaway. That's when I feel most comfortable. When things are not going good with her, then that affects everything else."

Between classes and practice, Delvar tries to get home every day to fix Vivian a meal. In the evenings, after team study sessions or games, he helps his mother take a shower. Delvar repeats this rigorous routine every day.

"I'd be lost without him," Vivian Barrett said. "Because I don't have anybody else to take care of me."

While recruiting Delvar out of Schoolcraft Junior College, college coaches first learned of Barrett's plight. "My first words were 'Thank you, but my mother's a diabetic, she's legally blind and I'm her caregiver, so if you want me, she has to come. She has to come,'" he said.

Only one school -- Ohio University -- sought ways to help Delvar with his dilemma. Head coach Tim O'Shea and his staff had already researched apartments, doctors and nursing homes when the contacted Barrett.

"I knew going into it that we were going to have to make special accommodations, but I wanted him to succeed with his goal of getting a degree and being able to play college basketball," said O'Shea. "So we went into this with our eyes wide open."

Though hobbled by injury this year with the Bobcats, Barrett has provided a much-needed complement in the post to Ohio star Brandon Hunter. He is averaging six points and nearly four rebounds per game, with a high of 21 points and 11 rebounds in an Ohio win over Akron.

When alone with his thoughts, Delvar returns home, remembering a happy youth spent with a sighted Vivian. "(I think about) how much I love her," he said. "How much she did for me. I just think about the times we had when I was younger. Things she used to do. How much fun I used to have with her when she could see."

Vivian Barrett, while sometimes seeing herself as a burden to her son, nevertheless beams with pride speaking about the gentle giant.

"It makes you proud," she said. "It makes you feel good inside. It makes you know that your life wasn't wasted."

Despite his busy daily schedule and supporting himself and Vivian on approximately $1,000 a month, Delvar Barrett refuses to complain.

"I just do what I've got to do," he said. "I try not to think about it too much or think about the negatives. If I think about the negatives, I'll start to feel sorry for myself. In the real world, people don't feel sorry for you."

Salters' story marks the second appearance by Barrett and his mother with ESPN this season. Wayne Drehs first profiled Delvar and Vivian in an in-depth feature on Dec. 12.