43
Watching a pain for Hain
Penguins senior may miss rest of season while recovering
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
Sitting and watching wasn’t a role Bobby Hain ever became accustomed to since joining Youngstown State in 2012 — appearing in every game for each of the past three seasons, beginning with his freshman campaign.
But since fracturing his left foot on Dec. 21 at Notre Dame in the contest’s opening minutes, that’s been the senior forward’s only role the past seven games. Even worse, it’s one that will likely continue for the rest of the season.
“It’s tough,” Hain said on Tuesday, speaking to the media for the first time since the injury. “It’s been the best three years of my life. I wanted this year to be my best, being my senior year.
“So it’s been really, really hard out there — especially with our team struggling.”
Including the Notre Dame game in which he played only three minutes, YSU is 2-6 without the 6-foot-11 Hain, who was averaging 12.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He has 76 starts in his Penguins career, as well as 1,187 points.
The injury to his left foot actually occurred because of an injury to his right foot.
For most of the season, Hain unknowingly played with a stress fracture in his right foot, which he admitted “had been hurting me for a while.” In turn, he was putting more pressure on his left foot, leading to the devastating injury.
“Basically I just took a jump shot [early against the Fighting Irish] and was sprinting back on defense,” Hain said. “I just planted hard and heard a pop. After that, it was excruciating pain. It was a crazy scenario.”
Following the injury, Hain was evaluated by doctors in his home state of Florida, before being tested by YSU’s team doctors. Results from both came back the same, revealing a stress fracture in his right foot to go along with a fractured left foot.
The approximate timetable is that he’ll be out six-to-eight weeks before returning. However, Hain and head coach Jerry Slocum have basically already accepted the fact that the big man will miss the rest of the season.
“My left foot isn’t looking too good,” Hain said. “I have to get another X-ray in two weeks and then we’ll see how it goes from there. But they’re treating me good and giving me treatment every day, so it’s getting better — no more pain, at least.”
“Basically, they just want me off it at all times. I can stand up here and there, but they want me sitting down.”
Another injured big man
The health of sophomore center Sidney Umude — who had started 18 of 19 games before missing Monday’s loss to Valparaiso due to a leg injury — is unclear.
Slocum called his availability for Sunday’s contest at Cleveland State a “toss-up,” before adding, “if the needle’s bending one way or the other, it’s probably bending towards not being able to go.”
Still, that’s positive news.
Umude suffered a lower leg injury early in Saturday’s loss at Wright State (that’s as much as Slocum could specify the extent of the injury). He was then immediately checked by Raiders’ team doctors, who gave YSU bad news.
“They told us it was season-ending,” Slocum said. “But after X-rays and everything taken back here by our doctors, the prognosis was a lot better.
“It’s not a season-ending like at one time we kind of thought.”
Junior center Jorden Kaufman, who is averaging 6.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, received his first start of the season on Monday.