Coastal Carolina starting point guard Kierre Greenwood will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL on Tuesday night. Greenwood underwent an MRI on Tuesday afternoon and learned that his sophomore season was over. Greenwood drove the baseline in the closing seconds in the first half of CCU's 59-57 loss to Gardner-Webb when he heard his knee pop. Greenwood collapsed to the floor and had to be carried off into the locker room.
Sports Director Rich Chrampanis is the host of the Cliff Ellis Show and offers his analysis on the Greenwood injury
WHAT GREENWOOD MEANS TO THIS TEAM
I think he was the most underrated player on the Chants and maybe in the entire Big South. His numbers aren't sexy (8 points and 4 assists per game), but he did so many little things especially on the defensive side. He also was a big time clutch player. Greenwood hit a three pointer with under 10 seconds to go to force overtime against Charlotte which led to an Atlantic 10 win. He hit the game winner to beat East Carolina at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center (CCU's most impressive victory of the season when it comes to RPI), and he blocked a shot at the buzzer to preserve a win at Gardner-Webb. Danny Nieman will play the point and is more than capable of stepping in. Now, Anthony Raffa is going to have to play more point and stay out of foul trouble.
SHORTHANDED
Coastal began the season with twelve scholarship players and walk-on Jordan Griffin. Chris Gradnigo, a transfer from Louisiana-Lafayette has to sit out this year, per NCAA rules. Willie Kirkland was declared academically inelgible for the second semester. Then Mike Holmes became eligible in December and was kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons seven games later. That left CCU with 10 players total before Greenwood went down.
WHAT THE LINEUP WILL LOOK LIKE
The starting five will likely be Danny Nieman and Anthony Raffa in the backcourt with Desmond Holloway, Chad Gray and Sam McLaurin along the front line. The bench is down to Jon Pack, Brandon Crawford and Dexter Moore along with walk-on Jordan Griffin.
DEXTER's THE KEY
The biggest change is going to be Dexter Moore receiving a whole lot of minutes. Dexter's role has been reduced over the past two years, but he has the ability to get hot from the outside. Moore has a career high of 29 against Liberty in 2009 and also had games where he scored 23 and 22 against High Point and Radford during the season. Right now, Dexter is averaging just under 10 minutes a game, but when it comes to the Big South it's more like 3-4 minutes. I think if Dex can play 18 to 20 minutes and show his three point prowess, CCU can survive the loss of Greenwood.
