Falcons 'disjointed' because of injuries
Air Force men’s basketball coach Jeff Reynolds has spent the last several weeks trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle – without all the pieces.
Reynolds has been missing at least one starter and one key reserve in each of the Falcons’ last five games because of a rash of injuries. Air Force used three different starting lineups in the stretch and last Saturday played without two opening game starters – center Sammy Schafer and forward Grant Parker.
“Right now we’re just so disjointed,” said Reynolds, whose team is 5-3 heading into Saturday’s game against Northern Arizona at Clune Arena.
“It’s weird playing with different groups of guys pretty much every game,” senior Mike McLain said.
Air Force was without its top two centers – Schafer (concussion) and freshman Taylor Broekhuis (lower-leg muscle strain) – for four straight games in late November and early this month, and junior Tom Fow (concussion) was on the bench for three of those contests.
The Falcons got Fow back for their Dec. 8 game against Prairie View A&M, and Broekhuis returned for last Saturday’s game against Washington State. But while Air Force gained Broekhuis, it lost leading scorer Parker (groin), and Schafer still is out indefinitely.
“We had some nagging injuries the last two years, but never anything like this,” Reynolds said. “Maybe we’re getting bit back a little bit.”
Parker averaged a team-high 17.1 points in Air Force’s first seven games and posted a team-high 14 in 25 minutes of the Falcons’ game against Prairie View A&M. Parker was fine the day after the game and participated in the team’s weight lifting and film sessions. But that night he began having pain in his groin, lower abdomen and hip.
A hernia was ruled out after an examination, but Parker could barely walk last weekend, and he’s doubtful for Saturday’s contest. “I’m not sure that right now our medical staff knows exactly what it is other than a severe groin strain,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds also is “very concerned,” he said, about the 6-foot-11 Schafer, who suffered a concussion in practice prior to the Falcons’ game against Charleston Southern on Nov. 28. Schafer still is suffering from headaches, Reynolds said.
“Yesterday he took two exams and he told me last night that he thought he did real poorly on one because his head was hurting so badly,” Reynolds said.
While the injuries are messing with Reynolds’ rotation and forcing him to use players in different positions, they could pay dividends down the road. McLain said players are “starting to understand the bigger picture” offensively and defensively because they’re playing new positions. And he added that the Falcons are building some depth and learning to play with different teammates.
“We’re getting people (playing time) who wouldn’t have gotten minutes,” McLain said. “And by the time conference comes around, I think we’re going to be that much better because of it.”
