Indians' Golson plays catch-up after ankle injury

Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner expects Reggie Golson to be a key player this season.

It's just going to take longer than Garner expected.

Golson, a 6-foot-7 junior forward who Garner says is perhaps Southeast's most physically talented player, has struggled in the Indians' system after he recently missed several weeks of practice with an ankle injury.

Golson, a transfer from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College who was at Southeast last season but took a medical redshirt, came off the bench in the first three games this year. Golson did not play during Sunday's win over California-Santa Barbara and played just three minutes during Wednesday's 71-58 loss at Southern Illinois.

"Reggie is just really frustrated right now. He thinks he should be playing better than he is," Garner said. "But he missed about 25 practices. How can you expect him to step right in and execute?

"Part of it is my fault. I probably rushed him in too fast. He's healthy, but he just hasn't had enough practice time."

Garner, who counted on Golson being a starter this season, plans to gradually give Golson more playing time in the hopes he will be up to nearly full speed by the start of Ohio Valley Conference play in January.

"I said a while back we hope to have Reggie fully ready to go by conference time in January, and that's still our goal, although it might even be a few games into the conference season," said Garner, whose 3-2 squad hosts Missouri-Kansas City Saturday night.

Garner said it's different when a veteran player misses that much practice.

"It wouldn't be as bad if somebody like Derek Winans or Brett Hale or Brandon Griffin had missed practice time, because they really know our system," Garner said, "but it's hard when a new player misses practice time."

Noteworthy

Winans, a junior guard and a three-year regular, started his 62nd straight Southeast game Wednesday. Winans needs 85 points to become the 18th men's basketball player to score 1,000 career points at Southeast.

Walk-on freshman guard Lance Sechrest recently left the program. He played in one game and did not score. Last year, Sechrest played in two early games without scoring before taking a medical redshirt because of a foot injury.