Breeze out again
Appalachian State, in a season riddled with injuries and suspensions, will remain short-handed when it begins the second half of its Southern Conference schedule on Thursday night at home against Wofford.
Forward Anthony Breeze will miss the Wofford game, and perhaps Saturday’s game at Furman, as result of a concussion sustained when he collided with College of Charleston’s Anthony Goudelock and hit the floor late in the first half Saturday.
“He had a pretty hard fall,” Coach Jason Capel of the Mountaineers said. “Watching it on film he hit his head pretty hard. I know he’s a hard-headed kid, but anybody who takes a hit like that is going to feel it. He’s a little shaken up right now. As I’ve said all year, it’s a matter of us getting healthy and being able to put as many able-bodies on the court as we possibly can.”
Breeze, who sat out last season after transferring from Coastal Carolina, has played in just eight games this season as result of suspensions and a recent bout with the flu.
Capel said he hasn’t seen a player go through so many setbacks in a season.
“I have not, for a player or even us as a team,” Capel said. “The adversity this team has faced – the setbacks we’ve had from personal matters, off-the-court stuff, things we’ve dealt with internally. It’s been a lot. But the thing I like about this team is we got back to practice (Monday) and went back to work.
“We’re finally getting some practice. This team needs practice. You need to continue to go over things in repetition and teach things in practice that our schedule unfortunately hasn’t allowed…. We got a chance to get back to basics (Monday) and strip things down and do some good things. The kids are working hard.”
The Mountaineers have lost four of their last five games, but remain in the thick of a race for a first-round SoCon Tournament bye.
“It’s just a matter of us putting together a full 40 minutes and having that passion to play, that passion to win,” Capel said. “That’s something we had to learn as a team last year. We got better at it, understanding what it takes to win and bringing that effort every day in practice and transferring it over to the games. This team is continuing to learn that process. You can’t pick a better night to get it rolling than Thursday night here against Wofford.”