The Longwood men's basketball team has taken yet another injury blow with the news that redshirt sophomore guard Bryan Gee will not play for the remainder of the season, according to a Jan. 25 press release from Chris Cook, Longwood’s assistant vice president of athletics communication.
The release stated Gee, son of Lancers head coach Jayson Gee, is suffering from overtraining syndrome, stemming from an emergency appendectomy during the offseason. There were complications during the surgery, and the effects have now forced him to sit out for the rest of the season.
The complications weren’t specified in the release.
In his second season, the point guard has appeared in each of the Lancers 19 games this season with eight starts. He has averaged 17.8 minutes per game while notching 2.4 points and 1.7 assists per contest.
The news arrived a week after a Jan. 18 press release from Cook announced junior guard Kendrick Thompson will not play for the rest of the season due to academic ineligibility. Thompson averaged 4.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game across eight appearances this season.
"Kendrick will not be back this season, and he will use the time away to focus on his obligations off the court," Jayson Gee said in the Jan. 18 release. "This is a difficult lesson for Kendrick to learn, but we will support him in his future endeavors."
Jayson Gee declined to comment further regarding Thompson.
Cook was unable to disclose whether Thompson had been disciplined by the NCAA, the Big South conference or by Longwood itself.
According to the NCAA’s official website, student-athletes face GPA, credit hours per both term and year, degree credit and percentage-of-degree completed requirements in order to be academically eligible for competition.
The website stated students-athletes must maintain a 95 percent of their institution’s minimum GPA required to graduate in order to be eligible prior to entering their third year, then attain the minimum GPA by their fourth year.
Longwood’s graduation requirements on the university website stated students must have a 2.0 GPA. In terms of the NCAA, the student-athlete must have a 1.9 GPA before his third year to be eligible for competition under NCAA rules.
The NCAA also stated student-athletes must pass at least six credit hours per semester, pass 18 credit hours per year and complete at least 40 percent of their degree prior to their third year then 60 percent prior to their fourth year. All credits earned must go toward their degree.
While Longwood requires a 1.9 GPA for junior student-athletes.
According to the 2016-17 Longwood Student-Athlete Handbook, the athletics department uses the same NCAA-directed guidelines.
Senior captain guard Darrion Allen said in an interview following a 72-60 loss to Radford, "The loss of Kendrick, he’s our brother, we still love him. Isaiah Walton had to step up and be the point guard, and he’s taken a big role."
Redshirt sophomore guard Isaiah Walton said after the same defeat on Jan. 19, "Kendrick leaving, another point guard, it’s tough. I’ve had to fill a lot of that, and I’ve been doing my best."
Bryan Gee and Thompson’s absences are just two on the long list of unavailable players, with sophomore forward Jahleem Montague and freshman guard Juan Munoz out with torn ACLs, redshirt junior captain forward Damarion Geter sidelined with a broken foot and senior guard B.K. Ashe out until the 2018-19 season due to NCAA transfer rules. The Lancers are down to just seven active scholarship players on the gameday roster.
Longwood men's basketball junior guard Kendrick Thompson is no longer listed on the athletics department official roster online.
