SU center Riley could miss season with foot injury
Sophomore center DeShonte Riley could miss the 2010-11 season with an injured foot, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said Friday.
The foot has bothered the 7-foot Detroit native for a while now, and the team is currently in the process of considering a number of options, Boeheim said.
‘There was no one day that it happened,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’s just been sore and gotten more sore as he’s gone along. So we looked at it and found that he has an injury there.’
No decision has been made as to whether or not Riley will undergo surgery and use a medical redshirt this season or attempt to rehabilitate the foot without surgery in an attempt to play this season. Boeheim said both are still options and a decision will ultimately be made by the team’s media day on Oct. 15.
Riley was expected to compete for a starting position this season after playing sparingly in 17 games as a freshman in 2009. Despite averaging just 1.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per game, he was the primary big man behind starters Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku in the SU frontcourt. Riley played valuable minutes in three NCAA Tournament games after Onuaku went out with a knee injury.
Although Boeheim welcomes freshmen big men Baye Moussa Keita and Fab Melo, who was a McDonald’s All-American last year, it was widely assumed that Riley’s role would increase this season. With Onuaku now gone, Boeheim values Riley’s experience in the middle.
‘We do have some size,’ Boeheim said. ‘But we’d still like to have DeShonte. He has some experience and that’s always a factor, always a good thing.’
Because practice hasn’t officially begun, Boeheim declined to speculate how the injury might affect his lineup and frontcourt depth. With the 6-foot-9 Jackson returning as SU’s starting power forward, it’s possible he too could see time in the middle of SU’s 3-2 zone defense with Riley out.
And if he’s done for the season, perhaps the pair of freshmen big men could play a big role for the Orange this year.
‘We’ll see how it goes,’ Boeheim said. ‘If he’s not able to play then obviously the freshmen will get a big opportunity to play this year.’
Published on October 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm
