Loe In Doubt
Tagged in: FIBA U19 World Championship, Junior Tall Blacks
New Zealand Junior Tall Blacks centre Rob Loe is doubtful for Friday night’s game against Croatia at the FIBA U19 World Championship at the North Shore Events Centre.
Loe, 2.11m (6ft 11in), suffered an Achilles strain late in the fourth quarter of the JTBs heartbreaking 66-64 loss to Argentina on day one, after driving to the hoop and falling awkwardly.
The North Harbour local was the Kiwis second-leading scorer on Thursday night, finishing with 15 points (7/12 FG, 1/2 FT), six rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes as New Zealand fell agonisingly short of a monumental upset against the Americas champions.
“It looks at this stage as a grade one strain,” team physio Bryce Ebben said.
“There’s no impingement around the ankle and there’s no problem with the ligaments in the ankle. We’ve done some acupuncture and some mobilizing of his foot and he’s now off the crutches and walking again.
“Things certainly look a lot better than they did this morning. We’re just going to monitor him for the rest of the day and make a decision later.”
New Zealand face Croatia, a team featuring seven players at 2.00m or taller, at 7.30pm at NSEC, before meeting Kazakhstan at 7.30pm on Saturday night in their final group D game.
“With Croatia being the tallest team here, it’s a big blow if he’s not able to go,” Junior Tall Blacks head coach Kenny McFadden said.
“If he can’t go then we’ll really have to change our game plan and we’ll change the way we rotate. We do have a plan B. We’ll have to push it up court a bit faster.”
