And the hits just keep on coming for head coach Bruiser Flint and the Drexel men’s basketball team.
After two straight seasons of decimating injuries, the Dragons will lose their best player in 2015-16 as Damion Lee has opted to transfer, per ESPN and other reports.
Lee, who was fourth in the nation in scoring this past season, will graduate this year, making him immediately eligible to play for another team next season. A 6-foot-6 swingman, Lee figures to attract national interest from high-major programs, including ones near his native Baltimore.
Lee burst onto the scene at Drexel, winning the CAA Rookie of the Year Award in 2011-12 before leading the team in scoring with 17.1 points per game as a sophomore the following season.
But the injury bug struck in 2013-14 as Lee tore his ACL in the preseason NIT, redshirting his junior year. He fought back to have his best year this past season, averaging 21.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game on an injury-plagued and shorthanded team.
But Lee joined the rest of the squad’s walking wounded when he broke his hand with four games left in the season, ending any realistic hope that Drexel could go on a run in the CAA Tournament and make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996.
Without Lee next season, it will be that much harder for the Dragons to end that NCAA-less streak.