Falcons treading carefully with injured Justin Turner

Star guard has not played since injuring hamstring at the Paradise Jam.

By Nicholas Piotrowicz / The Blade
Wed, 04 Dec 2019 20:14:25 GMT

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BOWLING GREEN — An injury has sidelined Bowling Green’s best player, and the Falcons are using caution before they’re ready to return to their full rotation.

Justin Turner, Bowling Green’s leading scorer and a first-team all-Mid-American Conference guard last season, has missed the past two games with a hamstring injury and has no timetable for a return.

Turner suffered the injury when Bowling Green played Cincinnati on Nov. 24 in the Paradise Jam tournament. The Falcons rallied to win in overtime, before falling the next night to Nevada in the tournament championship, but Turner has not played since.

The Falcons will be without Turner and his 19-point average for the time being, but have no plans to rush him back onto the court.

“I want him to look like himself before he actually gets back into a game,” Bowling Green coach Michael Huger said. “Is that going to be a week, two, three, four, five, six, or seven? I don’t know. It’s just whenever we can get him back to looking like himself.”

The length of Turner’s absence will be determined by how quickly his hamstring responds to treatment, which can vary greatly depending on the person.

Bowling Green will play five more non-conference games this month before they begin MAC play on Jan. 3 with a home game against Kent State.

Turner is not yet practicing, as Huger said he wants his best player to heal completely before jumping back into the lineup.

“I don’t want him out there and he’s limping and hobbling, and then he hurts something else for real because he’s compensating for his hamstring,” Huger said. “I want him to look the part before he gets back out there, and who knows how long that’s going to take?”

With Turner out indefinitely, the Falcons will look to their bench to help cover for his absence.

With Turner unavailable, Trey Diggs hit the game-tying 3-pointer to send the Cincinnati game into overtime, then started the past two games and scored 17 points in BG’s 76-69 victory against Dartmouth last week.

The junior-college transfer leads the BG guards in 3-point percentage at 41.5.

The Falcons also could look to true freshmen Davin Zeigler and Chandler Turner, but as Huger said, the rotation could change on a game-by-game basis.

“You really get to see what they’re made of, because now you get thrown into the fire,” Huger said. “There’s no turning back from what they’re about to go through.”

Bowling Green (6-2) next plays 4 p.m. Saturday against Oakland. The Falcons hope its top player can return sooner rather than later, but regardless of how long Turner is out, Huger said the Falcons have to keep finding ways to win.

“No one cares that our best player is hurt. Everybody is going to try to beat our heads in just the same,” Huger said. “We’ve got to come with that mindset that what we want to accomplish, and our goals are still right in front of us.”

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