The injury bug has hit Athens once again.
In what could become a repeat scenario from years past, the Ohio men's basketball team has been plagued by injuries early this season. Lucky for the Bobcats, players are on the road to recovery.
Sonny Troutman, one of the injured, is scheduled to return to action when Ohio finishes its six-game road trip at Mid-American Conference opponent Kent State.
We're hoping that on Saturday we can get him back out again
coach Tim O'Shea said.
This is a big week for him. We've had him in a boot pretty much 24/7 with a little bit in the sneakers and he's shown pretty good progress.
Still, O'Shea said it's not worth rushing him.
We'll see where he's at he said.
Returning Troutman to the active roster could help stabilize a starting lineup that has changed game by game. The Bobcats have used nine different combinations of their starting five in 11 games.
The third-year coach said the situation isn't as bad as some believe.
It's really been one position variable with these different lineups. There really hasn't been that much of a change in the lineup as it sounds
O'Shea said.
The lineups are starting to get consistent of late.
O'Shea points to the loss of three key players as one reason for the Bobcats' play this year.
One of the reasons I think that we've struggled a bit is that we've lost such a dominant player (in Brandon Hunter). In (Steve) Esterkamp too
and Sonny Johnson if he had better health
he said.
That's three guys who are capable of making money that are gone.
O'Shea said he is disappointed but not discouraged by the team's record so far.
I wish we were better right now
but I'm not shocked that we've struggled some. I've been saying from the beginning I know we were going to be competitive. I was concerned about the last three
four minutes of the game and who was going to step up and make shots.
