As FAU tries to slog their way through the remainder of a competitive league-play slate in hopes of a second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid, they’ll be forced to do so without an important part of their depth.
Head coach Dusty May confirmed Monday that Giancarlo Rosado suffered a sprained knee in Sunday’s win over UAB and will be out “for at least four weeks.”
“They were supportive of [Rosado],” head coach Dusty May said on the team’s response to the news. “I think his response to it was as impressive as anything, where basically he just has faith in his teammates. He’s going to be back.”
With Rosado, who essentially plays backup “big” to center Vladislav Goldin, sidelined for a month, May will have to look further down the bench to supplement the size they’ll be missing in his absence.
It’s an especially hurtful loss for an FAU team that doesn’t exactly tower over their opponents, even with Rosado healthy and in the lineup.
May said he’d be leaning on some of the “young guys” in the rotation who boast some size and length to fill Rosado’s void.
“Someone’s going to pick up the slack for Giancarlo,” said May. “He does a lot for us, but like everything else, our response is always good. We’ll find some positive out of this, and, you know, the young guys who have stayed ready will get more of an opportunity, and it will have to be a group effort.”
May mentioned specifically the soon-to-be increased role of Tre Carroll. The six-foot-7 forward has appeared sparingly in the rotation throughout but has shown flashes of potential throughout that time, shooting an efficient 52% from the floor alongside multiple impressive sequences on the defensive end.
Carroll’s highest usage came in an earlier absence of Rosado during the Owls’ trip to Orlando for the ESPN Events Invitational, where Carroll cashed in career-highs both in points (11) and minutes played (16). After Rosado’s exit versus UAB, Carrol tallied nine points shooting 80% from the field with three rebounds and an assist in 14 minutes.
“As you saw, Tre’s shooting more threes than the rest of our fives,” said May. “He’s able to playmake, not like Giancarlo, but in a similar way,” said May. “Obviously, last night Tre picked up the slack, but each night we anticipate it’ll be somebody different stepping up.”
May will also likely experiment with forward Brennan Lorient, who stands at 6-foot-9, making him the second tallest man on the roster behind Goldin. Like Carroll, Lorrient has appeared scantily in the rotation thus far as May has tinkered with different lineups. In the Owls road-opener at Eastern Michigan, he parlayed a then-career-high 15 minutes into a career-high 13 points on 85% shooting.
Forward Isaiah Gaines, standing 6-foot-8, could also see some extra minutes with Rosado out as he briefly did against UAB—he checked in for three minutes and tallied a layup.
“Isaiah gives us a great defender, someone that continues to improve in practice every day,” said May. “And Brennan Lorient, he didn’t play [Sunday], but he’s played very valuable minutes in recent games. He’s going to have an opportunity as well, and he’s capable of adding value in a lot of different areas for our team.”
For Rosado, the knee sprain represents the second time this season he’s had to miss time due to injury—he missed two games in November—and an obstacle to the four years of growth that came to a crest in the NCAA Tournament.
In the Owls’ five tournament games, Rosado averaged 6.8 points on a scorching-hot 78% from the field—in the Round of 64 and national semifinal, he shot perfectly.
“He’s more than just stats for us,” said May of Rosado. “He’s an emotional leader, he really, really understands the game, he understands team dynamics. He does a lot for us.”
Ironically, their first test without Rosado, hosting Wichita State on Thursday night, is one where they could really use his size. Though they’re winless in league play and riding a five-game losing streak, the Shockers average more offensive rebounds per game (41.56) than anyone in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) and the second-best rebounding margin (+5.56) in the conference.
Those young guys filling in for Rosado should have a good litmus test on Thursday night.
“Anytime we’re playing a team with the size they have and mass on the front line, we’re going to have to have a cumulative effort rebounding the ball,” said May. “They’re at the bottom of the standings today, but they could beat anyone, and they’re going to win a lot of games this year. So we’re approaching it just how we would any other conference game. It’s going to be tough.”
Cameron Priester is a staff writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @PriesterCameron
