No Magoon Gwath vs. GCU: What It Means for the Streaking Aztecs

San Diego State star forward Magoon Gwath has been officially ruled unavailable for the Aztecs when they travel to Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon University, Wednesday night at 8pm PST.

As reported by San Diego Union-Tribune’s Mark Zeigler, the sophomore is battling a ‘tweaked hip’ that was first injured vs Wyoming on the road last week. Though Gwath has battled through it the last few games, it was apparent vs New Mexico that he hurt it further and he only played nearly 10 minutes of clock time.

Gwath had previously injured his knee towards the end of last season that required surgery and sidelined him for the beginning of this season, as he continued to get back into game shape. This newest hip injury is on the opposite leg of that knee.

Reports suggest Magoon is currently “day to day, week to week” moving forward into the season. In the immediate SDSU will face a GCU team that has defeated the Aztecs 4-1 in history and 2-0 at the Global Credit Union Arena. The team will then travel to UNLV this Saturday and take on a Runnin’ Rebels team that just defeated Utah State.

So how does this impact the team?

Magoon’s absence certainly puts a strain on Coach Dutcher’s luxury of depth against Mountain West teams. However, Gwath’s performance this season hasn’t reached close to his full potential and the Aztecs have climbed to a 7-0 record in conference play, regardless.

Gwath is averaging 9.2 points in just 18.4 minutes per game. He undeniably brings a different dimension to the team with his skill and ability on all points of the floor. On top of scoring, Gwath’s presence as a shot blocker and rim protector on the boards is a facet Miles Heide, Pharoah Compton, and Jeremiah Oden will have to fill in the aggregate.

Though it is a challenge, for however long it may be, it also presents an opportunity to focus in on the task at hand. And that is perhaps the kind of challenge this team needs in order to bring out this groups best. Relying more on wing players gives Dutcher & crew the chance to activate more players like Taj DeGourville, Tae Simmons, and Jeremiah Oden. Their hustle for offensive boards, fast pace transition buckets and playmaking ability in moving the ball around will need to rise to the occasion in order to create a different dynamic without the big man.

These kind of setbacks after a larger injury are especially tough to bounce back from physically and mentally. Brian Dutcher team’s tend to peak around February into March. It will be of upmost importance to get Gwath as close to whole in all aspects before inserted back into the rotation of lineup changes.