A UALR men's basketball team down on its luck got some good news this week.
What Coach Wes Flanigan hopes serves as a boost to a team that has lost three games in a row, and five of its last six, was running up and down the practice gym floor at the Jack Stephens Center as fast as the rest of his teammates Thursday.
Lis Shoshi, the senior forward who has missed the last five games with a turf toe injury, has practiced twice this week and is set to make his return today against Coastal Carolina.
Shoshi's presence serves as a partial answer to what Flanigan called the "million dollar question" surrounding the Trojans.
"But it's a good question," said Flanigan. "Obviously, it's affected our team a lot with him being out. Defensively, he's been an anchor for us. There's been a lot of late in-the-game situations where guys just drive on us and we don't have that guy who can protect the rim for us.
"Offensively, at times, he's a calming influence for us."
Shoshi has started more games (51) the last two seasons than any other UALR player, and was averaging 10.3 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds per game, one of four Sun Belt players to average 10 or more points and 7 or more rebounds.
But in the second half of a Jan. 9 game at Coastal Carolina, Shoshi went up for a rebound and had an opposing player's foot land on his Achilles, which he said caused him to jam his left big toe into the floor. He went out of the game with less than five minutes left, UALR lost 66-63 and its won just once in five games since.
"I knew right away it wasn't going to be easy," Shoshi said of the rehabilitation process.
Shoshi said he's with trainer Michael Neal, a former Trojan post player himself, four or five different times each day getting ice and other treatments. Flanigan said every phone call or text message with Neal includes at least some sort of Shoshi update.
"Just doing whatever we can to get back," Shoshi said. "It's weird. There's not a lot of stuff you can do. Some ice, and some exercises and some rest. It was pretty boring."
The Trojans were struggling when Shoshi went down -- the loss at Coastal Carolina was its fourth loss in six games -- but his absence has prevented them from turning things around.
In Shoshi's first full game on the bench, UALR lost a 12-point second half lead in a 77-72 home loss to Arkansas State, a game in which the Red Wolves routinely drove to the basket in the second half. In a Jan. 23 loss, Troy forward Jordon Varnado had 24 points and 13 rebounds. Then, UALR let Louisiana-Lafayette make 19 of 27 two-point baskets in a 88-82 loss.
"Obviously, it was pretty hard just watching my teammates struggle and me not being able to help," Shoshi said.
Those three games highlight the areas which Flanigan thinks his team has missed Shoshi most.
"His ability to cover up some of our perimeter guys' mistakes because of some of their limitations, man, has been something we've sorely missed," he said. "Especially late in games. Guards are just driving it down hill and that's been the biggest thing."
Flanigan almost used Shoshi in Monday's loss at Louisiana-Monroe. He said Thursday the plan was to play Shoshi in "two-minute spurts," but changed his mind after watching pregame warm-ups. Shoshi said Thursday that he didn't think he was ready to return Monday, either.
"You can't rush it back," he said. "Mike's been really good with me. He always asked me how I felt, trying not to rush it back. It's one of those deals that can get re-injured, so just wanted to stay patient with it."
Making sure Shoshi won't re-injure the toe whenever he returns has been Flanigan's main concern the whole time. Despite sitting in a tie for ninth place with a 3-6 Sun Belt record, Flanigan is maintaining positive tones about his team's chances.
UALR trails three teams tied for first place by four games, a race, that is far from decided. A healthy Shoshi could make a difference in the final nine games.
"No one can say whether or not we can go undefeated for the last nine games, that's how I approach it," Flanigan said. "The only way we lose is if we quit, and this team is not ready to quit yet. I don't see that."
Sports on 02/04/2017