Coastal Carolina men’s basketball loses two key players to injury

Just as the Coastal Carolina men’s basketball team was building momentum with a three-game winning streak, the Chanticleers have been dealt not one but two key injury setbacks.

Senior forward Michel Enanga will indeed have surgery to repair the meniscus in his left knee, as had been considered a likely possibility for the last week, and junior guard Colton Ray-St Cyr will join him on the sidelines now with a broken left wrist.

Both players made key contributions in the Chants’ 71-63 win at Wofford on Monday night as the team improved to 6-4.

“It did not come without a cost,” coach Cliff Ellis said before practice Wednesday. “We have lost Colton Ray [to a] broken wrist. Out six weeks, surgery. Michel Enanga’s having surgery Monday, he’s out. So we have just been hammered.”

After sitting out a game, Enanga played through the injury Monday while scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in 16 minutes off the bench, but he was due all along for further evaluation this week with senior team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard Ward.

A key cog for the Chants since his freshman season, the 6-foot-5 forward has played in 106 career games with 27 starts. He was averaging 17.6 minutes and 6.0 points per game mostly as a reserve this season.

“Michel saw Dr. Ward and Dr. Ward said, ‘He ain’t going to make it.’ I said, ‘He just got through playing.’ He said, ‘He’s not going to make it. I’m doing surgery Monday.’ So [we’re] dealing with a lot,” Ellis said.

The bigger surprise, though, was the loss of Ray-St Cyr. The 6-foot-5 guard injured his wrist in the first half of that win Monday when he landed on it awkwardly, but he finished out the game while tallying seven points and eight rebounds.

“It happened in the first half. He fell and I saw it, he was over on the baseline, he jumped up [and said], ‘I’m alright.’ They taped it, and yesterday morning he woke up and couldn’t put his sock on,” Ellis said.

Ray-St Cyr had taken a big step forward this season while joining the starting lineup and averaging 24.6 minutes, 8.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game – all more than double his previous career bests. He had shown more confidence and consistency this season while shooting 51.8 percent from the field, and his length was an asset for the Chants on both ends of the floor.

As Coastal Carolina heads to Wake Forest for a big game Friday night against the 7-2 Demon Deacons, Ellis said sophomore guard Jaylen Shaw will move back into the starting lineup in Ray-St Cyr’s place while junior guard Ron Trapps (3.6 points in 7.4 minutes per game) will likely see a bigger role off the bench. Freshman Christian Adams (2.8 points per game in five appearances) could also see more playing time.

In the frontcourt, meanwhile, 6-foot-9 freshman Kevin Holmes Jr. will pick up some of the burden off the bench behind senior starters Badou Diagne and Tristian Curtis. Holmes, who was initially set to redshirt before playing in the last two games as Enanga’s knee injury became more of a concern, and steady senior Marcus Freeman are really the Chants’ only big options off the bench with 6-foot-9 freshman center Josh Coleman having played only 12 minutes over four games this season and in need of further development.

“Somebody’s got to step up,” Ellis said. “Trapps and Kevin are next in line, so we’ve got to manage this with no practice time basically and go into Wake very limited with our depth right now and just go in there and try to figure it out.”

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina men’s basketball loses two key players to injury."