Chris Fouch injures his right leg coming down after a lay-up on Nov. 17 against Penn. (Mike Angelina/Philahoops)
The only thing that may be more battered and bruised than Drexel’s win-loss record this season is the Dragons’ roster. It was just the third game of the season when senior and sixth man extraordinaire, Chris Fouch, went down for the season with a broken ankle. Providing energy, leadership, and points were what Fouch did best, and Drexel has really all of missed that this year.
But the injury bug has continued to bite Bruiser Flint’s squad. Damion Lee missed the Dragons’ home loss to Northeastern with a foot injury, the third game he has missed this year after missing two games early on with a head/neck injury. The diagnosis is not clear as Flint indicated following the game. He said, “Honestly, you gotta ask my trainer, I mean I’m not sure.”
He continued, “I’m not sure whether it’s day-to-day because this morning was really the first time they said, ‘Look, he’s not going to play.’ He hasn’t practiced or anything like that. We’ll get a little more information and we’re looking to get to Saturday.”
Flint explained the progression of Lee’s injury which seems to have been lingering since Drexel’s win over Georgia State on Jan. 2. He said, “He actually hurt it in the Georgia State game then he must have hurt it again against Towson and it swelled up.”
Drexel guard Damion Lee (right) sat out Jan. 8 with a foot injury (Kevin Rossi/Philahoops)
Unfortunately for Drexel fans, that was not all of the injury news that Flint had during the postgame press conference. Confirming the belief of some students that have spotted him walking around campus in a walking boot, senior big man Daryl McCoy has been battling a foot injury as well. “Even Daryl McCoy, he has a really bad foot injury and he probably shouldn’t be out there but he’s sucking it up for me right now,” Flint said.
When asked about depth and using new guys off of the bench after using only seven against Northeastern, including the injured McCoy, Flint denounced the idea. “I don’t know who you want me to work in,” Flint laughed at the press conference. “The only person would probably be Goran (Pantovic), who has actually played well for me at times. I don’t know who else you really want me to work in there, but we’ll see.”
The Dragons have been struggling even with both Lee and McCoy healthy this season. Both freshman Tavon Allen and sophomore Aquil Younger played well against Northeastern, but both have been wildly inconsistent this year making it tough to rely on them too heavily. As CAA play rolls on, Drexel must have all of their important pieces healthy if they want to compete. Prior to the season this was looking to be Drexel’s season in the CAA, but now the Dragons travel to James Madison on Saturday and look to get back to .500 in the conference.
Kevin Rossi
