 "Photo: Kara Roache/The Daily Gamecock")
As if losing its leading scorer and rebounder through the first four games wasn’t enough, the USC basketball team has suffered another blow. Junior forward Mike Holmes will undergo surgery this week for a left eye injury.
“Our guys were off Saturday because of the football game. Mike went home and when he returned he had an injury in his eye. It turns out he has a closed eye injury that is a facial fracture and it’s going to require surgery. So he’ll be out indefinitely,” USC coach Darrin Horn said. “From my understanding, it was just kind of horsing around at home.”
Holmes’s injury comes after senior forward Dominique Archie was lost in the finals of the Charleston Classic last Sunday with a right knee sprain. No timetable has been placed for his return, as it will depend on how the rehabilitation process goes.
With two major factors in the lineup missing for an extended period of time, Carolina needs to find a way to fill the void that Archie and Holmes leave on the defensive side of the ball in addition to the offensive side with their scoring and rebounding abilities.
Though he’s not sure what the starting lineup will look like on Wednesday night against his alma mater Western Kentucky, Horn will look to speed up the pace even faster than it already is.
“My initial reaction is to go as big as we can. We may have to turn the heat up even more, as crazy as that sounds,” Horn said. “Just completely turn the game into an outright track meet and press as much as we can.”
Be the first to comment on this article!