City of Basketball Love

Austin Petolillo (@AustinPSports)
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When Zach Spiker pictured Drexel’s rotation before the season, it looked a bit different from the lineups the Dragons' head coach used through the first 15 games this season.

Drexel has dealt with several injuries and absences thus far through the 2017-18 campaign.

On, Friday night, the Dragons played about as close to full strength as they have all season.

In an 87-82 overtime win against the College of Charleston, Drexel’s top seven scorers were all available for the first time during the 2017-18 campaign.

“It matches a little bit more what our thinking was in the offseason and how we wanted to rotate people,” Spiker said. "We had no options, and now we have a few options.”

Availability issues started for the Dragons before the season began. Sophomore forward Alihan Demir, a transfer from Central Wyoming, had to sit out Drexel’s first five games due to NCAA eligibility rules.

Senior guard Miles Overton went down before the season began and missed 12 of the first 13 games with a calf injury. Junior guard Troy Harper missed eight games with a shoulder injury spanning from Nov. 25 to Dec. 30.

By the time Overton and Harper joined Demir in the Dragons’ rotation on Dec. 30 in their game against Elon, junior guard Tramaine Isabell was out with a groin injury.

With Isabell’s return to the lineup on Friday, the Dragons’ are starting to get back all of their missing pieces and are closer and closer to full strength.

“It’s something that we need, consistency,” senior center Austin Williams said. “That’s why we’ve been going up and down this season, beating a good team, then losing to a team we shouldn’t lose to so it’s going to be real good once we get everyone back out there.”

In Friday’s contest, Harper and Isabell both chipped in with 14 points each. Demir started his sixth consecutive game and scored a career-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists.

Demir’s production after guys went down with injury has sort of been a diamond in the rough type of find for Drexel.

“I think I’m adjusting to the team more and they adjusted to my game too,” Damir said. “I’m starting to get more confident with the team and they’re getting more confident with me too.”

Williams, sophomore guard Kurk Lee, senior guard Sammy Mojica and freshman forward Tadas Kararinas are the only Dragons to see action in every game this season.

Playing shorthanded has forced some players to see a lot of minutes. Five Drexel players are averaging more than 30 minutes per game. Four have seen 40 minutes of action at least once this season.

Lee has broken the 40-minute mark eight times this season, Mojica and Isabell have played 40 minutes or more three times this season and Williams has played 40 minutes or more twice, including Friday night.

“It’s better because we’ve been playing over 35 minutes the last like five games, six games,” Demir said. “Now we play like 30 or 20-something minutes, so it’s like better for us because we are less tired and we can do more on the court for the time we are on the court.”

The Dragons are still not at full health.

Sophomore wing Sam Green, who is dealing with a knee injury, has been out since he went down in the beginning of the NJIT game on November 25th. He was averaging 4.7 ppg on 13.5 mpg.

Senior forward Tyshawn Myles, has missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury. Spiker said he was playing the best basketball of his career before going down.

As the Dragons’ return to health, they hope their best basketball is ahead of them.

“We’ll take the win of course,” Spiker said. “But we’re learning from every game and every situation and as we get a little healthier it makes us a better basketball team.”