It has been an injury plagued season for St. John’s basketball forward Brady Dunlap, and it looked like the sophomore forward would be getting some much needed time off to recover after undergoing surgery on his left hand in mid-December to repair a tear to the UCL in his hand.
Instead, he has uncovered a new injury that has been bothering him for quite some time, Rick Pitino said on Friday morning.
The injury is a small tear in his abdomen.
Dunlap was believed to have a hip injury in November that he was able to play through but after causing him more pain he received more medical attention, and it was revealed that he tore his abdomen.
“It’s very painful for him,” Pitino said.
St. John’s was sending the 6-foot-7 shooter for another opinion on the injury on Friday to see if it could be treatable without surgery. If he were to need surgery, which could be the likely scenario based on Pitino’s description, he would be out for the season with a 3–4-month recovery timeline.
The Red Storm would seek a medical redshirt for Brady Dunlap if he must undergo surgery.
“A poor young man who loves basketball, has gone through so many injuries so far and he’s been in a lot of pain and I just don’t want his spirits to get down right now so we’re exhausting every possibility to keep him from surgery, but he may have to have it,” Pitino added.
Should he only need rehab and core work, the expectation is that he would return as soon as his hand heals from its surgery.
“We need his shooting.”
St. John’s will also remain shorthanded against Villanova on Saturday night (7:00 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network) as freshman Jaiden Glover tries to recover from a bone bruise in his hand/wrist arena.
Rick Pitino said Glover has been practicing with the team although he’s not shooting due to the pain and swelling in his hand. Glover was dressed and warmed up with the team against Xavier but mostly took left-handed shots.
“Probably won’t,” Pitino said on if he would play.