FAIRFAX, Va. – UMass’ already decimated roster suffered its toughest blow yet. Sophomore guard Luwane Pipkins won’t play in Saturday’s game against George Mason with concussion symptoms.
Pipkins suffered the injury in Wednesday’s loss to VCU, but didn’t reveal it to coaches and training staff until Saturday morning.
Pipkins was at practice Thursday and was excited about a rematch with Mason guard Otis Livingston II, but he didn’t participate in shootaround. His status for Wednesday’s game at Richmond has yet to be determined.
The one saving grace UMass had through all of its injuries, illness and ineligibility was Pipkins. The sophomore guard’s presence meant the Minutemen had a chance to be in every game. He leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 21.5 points per game and has led or co-led UMass in scoring 23 times this season including 14 of 15 Atlantic 10 games. He’s coming off a 38-point performance in a loss to VCU where he tied the school record with eight 3-pointers.
After seven players transferred after last season, UMass has continued to lose players all year. A previously undiscovered heart ailment ended Maryland transfer Jaylen Brantley’s season before it started.
Junior big man Rashaan Holloway was declared academically ineligible in early January and sophomore Chris Baldwin the last eight games with a season ending leg injury. Freshman big man Khalea Turner-Morris is also out as he completes concussion protocol.
Missing the game will make it hard for Pipkins to score his 1,000th career point during the regular season. He has 939 points in his career. The Minutemen have just two regular season games and at least one conference tournament game remaining.
He still needs 11 3-pointers to break the school’s single-season record of 104 held by Ricky Harris.