Depleted Drexel Visits UNC-Wilmington Saturday
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The 9-7 Drexel Dragons continue to deal with along list of injuries as they get ready to continue Colonial Athletic Association play Saturday on the road at UNC-Wilmington.
Of course, the Dragons lost talented junior guard Damion Lee for the season because of a knee injury back in late November. That was a huge blow. Then over the last couple of weeks the Dragons have lost three key players in guard/forward Tavon Allen (ankle)and forwards Dartaye Ruffin (calf) and Kazembe Abif (knee).
"Hopefully we get somebody back (for Saturday)," Drexel head coach Bruiser Flint tells KYW Newsradio. "I'm not sure which one. Right now, Kazembe's probably the one that's been running a little bit. The other guys, Dartaye and Tavon, I think we're going to get those guys running a little bit, hopefully. But right now it's up in the air and I really can't tell you who is going to play."
Bruiser Flint Interview
All these injuries have pushed the Dragons roster to the limit.
"Now you're bringing guys in, and some of the guys are young actually," Flint says. "Some of the things you do and you talk about, they just make mistakes doing them. The effort is there. I think the guys have done a really good job, you know we won a game without those guys (vs. Northeastern) and we lost to a really good team (Towson on Tuesday). So the effort is there with those guys. But you break down a lot more than you usually do. Those guys are in there sometimes to give guys breaks (under normal circumstances), now they're out there for longer periods of time. So that's what happens when you have to replace a lot of guys at once. But like I said, the younger guys and the guys that have had to play, have done a magnificent job in terms of how they are hustling and the things that they are doing. I can't ask too much more out of them."
UNC-Wilmington is 6-13 on the season and 0-4 in the CAA. But Flint says they have some talent.
"They've got some big guys that score the ball," Flint says. "Cedrick Williams is probably their best player. They've got some pretty good guards in Freddie Jackson and Addison Spruill. Those guys get after you. (Head coach) Buzz (Petersen) changes up a lot of his defenses. I expect him to do some things, because we only have really two guys out there to score. So they'll really do some things against Frantz (Massenat) and Chris (Fouch)."
Massenat and Fouch combined to score 49 of Drexel's 68 points in Tuesday's loss to Towson.
Saturday's game will tip-off at 2:00pm.
You can follow Matt on twitter @mattleonkyw.
