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Chase Tapley hurts knee, could be out against USC

Chase Tapley

San Diego State could be without its second-leading scorer, as senior guard Chase Tapley left Friday afternoon’s practice with what head coach Steve Fisher described as “tendon knee strain.”

According to a report from Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Tribune, Fisher said that he is unsure if Tapley will play Sunday against USC. The severity of the injury is unknown and Fisher doesn’t even know if he could play Dec. 1 against UCLA.

An hour following the injury, Fisher stated that Tapley had some mobility to it.

“Your heart goes right up above your Adam’s apple,” said Fisher. “You have such empathy for a player like Chase who has worked so long and hard and had such a wonderful career that you say, “Get up, get up, get up.’ You hope that they get up. Our hope now is that he’ll be able to play very quickly.”

Senior James Rahon, junior Xavier Thames, and sophomore Dwayne Polee could all be asked to step into the 6-foot-3 Tapley’s role if he is unable to go for Sunday and potentially beyond that. Tapley is averaging 11.8 points, five rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game for the Aztecs, who enter Sunday’s matchup with USC with a 3-1 record.

San Diego State did receive good news as freshman Winston Shepard returns from a three-game suspension. The 6-foot-8 Shepard missed the last three games after receiving impermissible benefits.

Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payne