Brady Dunlap has been a warrior for the St. John’s basketball team, but his latest injury will sideline him for the foreseeable future.
The program announced on Wednesday afternoon that Dunlap will undergo surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his left hand on Thursday after suffering the injury in the Red Storm’s victory against Kansas State.
The sophomore played 19 minutes against the Wildcats and would play 12 minutes in the Johnnies’ next game against Bryant and 16 minutes on Tuesday night in its victory against DePaul.
“Brady has been playing hurt since our game with Kansas State on December 7,” Rick Pitino said in a statement. “It has been bothering his shooting and it’s time to surgically repair this so he can get back in time for February.”
The approximation is that Dunlap will miss 4-6 weeks while freshman Jaiden Glover is expected to receive an increase in minutes during his absence.
Brady Dunlap has played in 10 games this season for St. John’s, averaging 5.7 points per game on 30.6-percent shooting from 3-point range. His best game of the season was when he poured in 20 points during the second game of the season against Quinnipiac. He had not reached double figures in any other game.
The hand injury is just the latest in what has been a tough year physically for the California native. He missed St. John’s victory over Virginia in the Baha Mar Hoops Challenge with a hip issue that required a cortisone shot when the team arrived back in New York. He was hit in the face in practice last week and wore a face mask during its game against Bryant.
Now, he will get a chance to recover as his hand heals.
The UCL in your hand is band of tissue on the inside of the thumb that helps stabilize the thumb and support grip. It is located at the base of your thumb where it meets your palm.
St. John’s (9-2, 1-0 Big East), shooting 32.8-percent from 3-point range, will look to fill Brady Dunlap’s void beginning Friday night (8:00 p.m. ET, FOX) when playing its first true road game against Providence (7-5, 1-0 Big East).