Top Evansville player out six weeks

[tornado]

Their best player & top scorer Ryan Taylor - averaging 21.3 pgg
is out six weeks or so with a broken bone in his left foot

Some further details- they are now reporting that Taylor broke the bone in an injury late in the game against Fresno State Nov. 21....
...rolling his ankle and fracturing the 5th metatarsal.
But he did not leave that game - playing the final five minutes in that game after the injury and even hitting the game-winning basket with 8 seconds remaining.
Then he even played 37 minutes the next night against La Tech- scoring 11 pts which was well below his average.
press release and YouTube video

Ryan Taylor already used a redshirt year in transferring to Evansville from Ohio University.
They have a kid named Marty Hill, a similar player who is a juco transfer that has not yet played and could be a redshirt candidate if he remains injured..
but they may have to take the redshirt off him and get him back on the court asap...



One other injury of note- Missouri State's Ronnie Rousseau - sprained his ankle, missed their last game and will likely be out again tonight against Colorado State

Loyola is likewise missing a starter - Ben Richardson out 6 wks with a broken hand

[Da Coach]

Their best player & top scorer Ryan Taylor - averaging 21.3 pgg
is out six weeks or so with a broken bone in his left foot

Wow, that is another really tough break for Marty Simmons and the Evansville team and their fans. Taylor accounts for about ⅓ of Evansville's total points, and he has made about as many three point shots as the rest of the team combined. And, they get less production from their bench than any other MVC team. He is pretty much the reason they are 5-1 so far. He was the leading scorer in all 5 of their wins, and the only game he was not the leading scorer, they lost.
No team seems to have had as many serious injuries to key players in the last couple years as Evansville, and this one will hurt them a lot.

By the way, Bradley plays both games against Evansville very early in the conference schedule, in the first 8 MVC games. Bradley plays at Evansville on January 6, and Evansville plays at Bradley on January 20. If Taylor misses 6 weeks, that will include the game on Jan. 6. The Jan. 20 game is a little over 7 weeks away, so he might be able to return by then, but he may not be 100% recovered.

[tornado]

FWIW- and may have nothing to do with Ryan Taylor's situation...
5th metatarsal fractures are occasionally very hard to get them to heal properly..
it is a long bone with a small blood supply...
Anyone remember Andrew Warren and how he had to go thru two different surgeries and have the bone pinned to finally get it to heal?
I seem to recall Wichita's Landry Shamet - and when he developed his stress fracture of the 5th metatarsal in 2015- the experts said he'd be out 6-8 weeks.
But others were a bit skeptical and in the end he missed a whole year.

Here are a couple studies on 5th metatarsal fractures in basketball players -
results vary but many took 7-12 weeks before they could return and be considered "a good result". Some required up to 24 weeks.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s001670050183

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10639656

a full 1/3 of all patients with this kind of fracture still reported nagging pain even a year later

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5344859/

https://www.podiatrytoday.com/blogged/what-recent-studies-reveal-about-proximal-fifth-metatarsal-fractures

Based on the description of Taylor's fracture in the video & article - it would seem he has a Type III fracture of the 5th metatarsal...

https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/the-approach-to-proximal-fifth-metatarsal-fractures-in-athletes-2329-910X-1000181.php?aid=70600

[Da Coach]

Speaking of Evansville, despite their good start, Marty Simmons has come under increasing criticism there, and could be on the hot seat.
But he received a vote of confidence from former UE head coach Jim Crews-

http://www.courierpress.com/story/sports/2017/11/25/former-university-evansville-coach-jim-crews-staunchly-defends-marty-simmons/876103001/