The GW men’s basketball team entered Thursday night’s match-up against host Temple without its second-leading scorer SirValiant Brown. The Colonials sorely missed Brown’s scoring touch (17.6 points a game), as they lost a 91-58 blowout in Philadelphia. Brown sat out the game because of a toe injury he sustained in practice the night before.
When asked about Brown’s ability to play Thursday night, GW head coach Tom Penders said it was impossible.
“He couldn’t even walk,” Penders said. “It is kind of a turf toe tendon problem. Fortunately, it wasn’t a break.”
Brown’s toe was healed enough that the GW sophomore scored 12 points in 26 minutes in the team’s 92-66 win Sunday against Duquesne.
“It was hurting tonight, but I sucked it up,” Brown said.
Brown said his toe was sprained and that it was too swollen to play Thursday night.
The absence of Brown hurt the Colonials’ outside game, which was the team’s best shot at beating the Owls, Penders said. Brown sat helplessly on the bench and watched his teammates struggle all night. The Colonials shot only 32 percent overall (20-for-62) and a dismal 24 percent (9-for-37) from three-point range. GW never held a lead in the game.
“I was frustrated to see my team down like that,” Brown said Sunday.
“He’s probably about 80 percent in terms of movement and being able to cut,” Penders said after Sunday’s game. “They gave him some medication at Temple that took a couple of days to take effect.”
Brown will have a few days to rest his sprained toe before the Colonials travel to Rhode Island for a Wednesday night game. GW will be without leading scorer Chris Monroe, who was suspended for the game following a fight Sunday against the Dukes.
