Staff photo by Angela Lewis/Chattanooga Times Free Press – UTC’s Sam Watson and Tennessee Wesleyan’s E’Jay Ward dive for the ball at McKenzie Arena Thursday evening.The injury bug is back.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team suffered from injuries to various players — notably Troy Cage — last year but had yet to have a player miss a game because of injury this season.
That changed last Thursday when sophomore forward Sam Watson sat in sweats as the Mocs fell 88-56 at Wofford. He sat the same sweats in the 85-59 loss Saturday at Furman.
He’ll miss at least one more game, probably more.
Watson underwent an MRI exam Monday, and the results Tuesday revealed a tear in his right shoulder.
“The season goes on and it doesn’t matter whether you’re sick, tired or injured,” coach John Shulman said. “He would have played all he wanted this past weekend, because he provides toughness.”
Watson will miss Thursday’s rematch with UNC Greensboro. He is questionable for Saturday against Elon and the rest of the season.
“We’re going to rehab him, and when he can lift his arm above his shoulder without pain, then we’ll put a brace on him and he’ll be back out there playing,” Shulman said. “But I have no idea when that’s going to be.”
Losing Watson for a period of time is not the same as losing a starter. He’s last on the team with an average of 0.8 points per game and averages just seven minutes per contest.
But those are important minutes as centers DeAntre Jefferson and Jeremy Saffore, as well as forward Chris Early, have a tendency to get in first-half foul trouble.
“It puts us under more stress, and the minutes he plays, he plays hard,” Jefferson said. “Not having Sam hurts. I still have to be aggressive on defense and guard my man, and I can’t lighten up.”
Watson did make a difference in the Mocs’ 70-65 win at UNC Greensboro earlier this month. He played 15 minutes in a game that Jefferson, Saffore and Jahmal Burroughs fouled out of while trying to defend center Aloysius Henry, who scored 17 points.
“We have to dig down deeper because we won’t have that sub, and we’ll have to try and produce more than usual,” Early said. “We have to play smart and we have to be in better position on defense so we don’t get silly fouls.”
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