For Gian Clavell, the news on his injury front just went from bad to worse.
According to Colorado State Rams men’s basketball head coach Larry Eustachy, Clavell not only broke his non-shooting hand in practice last Thursday, but he has a torn shoulder which will need surgery, too.
“He has a tear in his shoulder. He’s going to have to address that,” Eustachy said after the Rams 89-61 blowout of USC Upstate Monday night. “He’s been playing with it for a year and Wes Eikmeier never addressed it and it ended his career premature overseas.
“It’s a six-month recovery,” Eustachy continued. “So, he’ll have is scheduled sometime in early January so he can get right to where he can go to class. I think it’s weird for him. He’s kind of a wounded, walking MASH unit right now. But, he’s quite a teammate, if you watch him. He’s really helped during the practices since he’s been hurt.”
Clavell was so eager to play basketball with his team Monday he went out during the pre-game warmups, grabbed a rebound, turned and shot a deep two-pointer, canning it even with his cast on.
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Clavell, a senior, is hoping for a medical redshirt and should receive one considering the broken hand occurred just before the team’s 11th game against Kansas State.
Since breaking his hand, Clavell has been very vocal on the bench in helping to coach his teammates. He even took over for an exacerbated Eustachy who stepped away from the huddle during a tense timeout to talk sense to his teammates before the head coach stepped back in.
“Gian’s been very influential in changing it even since he’s been hurt,” Eustachy said of his team’s changed mindset Monday. “He didn’t buy into it when he was playing. But now that he’s hurt, he’s buying into what we’re selling. So, I think, as a group they know they’re up against it without Gian and they feel real bad that he’s not able to play this season with him.”
Colorado State improved to 7-5 on the season with their win over USC Upstate, but without their leading scorer in Clavell, how many more 89-point games will they enjoy? We’ll see, but this team must focus on what Eustachy and the coaches are “selling” in defense and rebounding first if they want to make the postseason again.
