Last year, nine games in, Damian Lillard tore his ACL. This year, Randy Rahe‘s squad was dealt another blow as redshirt senior forward Kyle Bullinger dislocated his elbow against San Jose State three days ago (semi-warning: the video is, at least, cringe-inducing. At most, might make you hurl.)
Reports aren’t confirmed just yet, but word is he will be gone at least three weeks, maybe a month or slightly longer.
Who is Bullinger? Well, he’s started 100 games for the Wildcats and is the team’s best low-post threat and key glass man (7.2 points, 9.0 rebounds). Here are some snippets from his junior season, when he was named first-team All-Big Sky.
11.2 points and 6.3 rebounds…Finished 18th in the Big Sky in scoring and scored in double figures in 20 of the 32 games during the year…Ninth in the Big Sky in scoring in conference games at 13.9 per game…Led the Wildcats and was ninth in the Big Sky in rebounding at 6.3 per game and was fifth in the conference in league games at 7.1…Finished fourth in the Big Sky in three-point field goal percentage at .429 (54-126)
He has struggled with his outside shot a bit this year, in part because he has been battling a back injury. His shooting percentages (both 2 and 3 pointers) are way down this year, but I don’t expect that trend to continue. What Weber State will miss is his rebounding and toughness. He has a 27.2 DR% on the year, good for 26th in the country. They will miss that a lot.
Bullinger was one of a handful of players to step up when Lillard was hurt. Now, it falls on others to step up for him. First off, others have to because Lillard (28.2 ppg) has been carrying the burden for quite awhile, evidenced by a 41-point night against SJSU. Now it’s widely known Lillard can carry the load; his career attests to it. Still, sharpshooter Scott Bamforth (17 points on 4-of-14 shooting, 2-of-12 from 3 last 2 games) has to step up even more from the outside now. Kyle Tresnak has been very solid in the post (10 ppg), but he’ll have to shoulder the rebounding load (currently 2.8 rpg). Darin Mahoney (2.5 points, 4.5 rebounds) must increase his input in both departments and Rahe will look to sixth man Byron Fulton to become more of a scorer and rebounder as well.
This isn’t a major blow to Weber State’s conference championship hopes. It’s significant in that Bullinger will miss potentially the first week of Big Sky play and take another one, maybe two to get readjusted into Weber’s flow. However, there will be time for the senior to come back and have an impact for his program.
