Auburn will be without two of its best guards for an extended period of time, according to head coach Bruce Pearl.
Pearl said Tahj Shamsid-Deen is out for the year due to his third shoulder dislocation of the season, and T.J. Dunans will not return until the end of the season, if at all, because of a knee injury.
Shamsid-Deen, whose career has been riddled with shoulder injuries, suffered his latest shoulder dislocation on Dec. 19 at Xavier. He has not played since, and Pearl said Shamsid-Deen’s latest injury could be a career-ending one, depending on his recovery.
“As difficult as [missing] last year was, this has to be even more difficult for him,” Pearl said. “He is genetically predisposed to having, for lack of a better explanation, some loose shoulders. How much Dr. (James) Andrews is going to be able to tighten it up will determine whether or not he even plays again. Because we’ve got to make sure that he is not only healthy to return to play, but also healthy to continue with the rest of his life.”
Shamsid-Deen will undergo surgery next week, according to Pearl.
"Mentally he has a good mind right now," said senior forward Cinmeon Bowers. "He’s just staying positive, you know. I’m staying positive with him, encouraging him. He’s staying focused."
T.J. Dunans injured his knee during Auburn’s game against Harvard in the Diamond Head Classic when teammate Kareem Canty landed on it while chasing a loose ball.
While Dunans was originally scheduled to rest and rehab the knee, he was forced to have his knee scoped to “do some cleaning up.” All of the major ligaments in his knee are safe, but the scoping revealed further damage to his tissues and arteries than was expected, which will cause Dunans to miss more time than the original prognosis of three to five weeks.
“They had to go in and fix some leaks, and now he’s able to progress with his rehab,” Pearl said. “But it pushes his return date out to very late in the season, with a possibility of not being able to return.”
Shamsid-Deen played in five games this season, averaging 2.6 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. Dunans averaged 12.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 10 games.
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