Jaire Grayer’s foot injury has caused him to miss some time in 2018.
The 6-5 senior missed George Mason’s contest against the Morgan State Bears on Wednesday night. It was only the second game he has not dressed in his entire carer and the fourth game in which he did not start. Grayer also did not take the court during warm-ups.
Initially, it was reported as a just a precaution from the team by our very own Petey Buckets.
Team spokesman says Grayer is day-to-day with a foot injury. Doesn't feel 100%, being held out as a precaution. https://t.co/I3IJRXXQGa
— Petey Buckets (@peteybuckets) November 29, 2018
“It doesn’t feel like he has the lateral movement that he’d like,” head coach Dave Paulsen said after the game. “We’re being precautionary with him.”
He also added that Grayer is in consultation with the team doctors and seeing treatment for the injury.
Additionally, a person close to the situation added that Grayer has not felt 100 percent all season long. This would explain not only his dip in minutes (22.3 mpg) on the season, but also his lack of production on the court. Only averaging 10 ppg, Grayer is scoring at his worst rate since his freshman season. Coming down with boards (3.6 rpg) is even more of a concern as his production in that category has nearly been cut in half.
Rebounding has been one of Mason’s worst traits this season and Grayer’s limitations are a huge reason why. Entering 2018-19, Grayer was the team’s leading rebounder with 7.3 boards per game. No one else came close in that category. In simple terms, that is easily cutting out four boards for the Patriots a contest. It’s left a huge void that 6-2 guard Javon Greene is trying to fill, leading the team on the glass with five a game.
Grayer’s season-high in all the categories mentioned were back in the third game of the season against Georgia Southern. With 31 minutes, he scored 25 points, including going 5-for-10 from behind the arc and brought down seven rebounds. Many, myself included, assumed that it had taken some time for Grayer to come back to form. That performance was looking to be a sign that he turned a corner.
Since then everything has been dwindling down to where he only made two free throws in 16 minutes of action against Baylor. Wednesday the decision was made to just let him rest.
Back in the off-season Brian Mull reported that Grayer missed the entire summer of practice after “undergoing a procedure to alleviate chronic foot pain.” Up until Wednesday it had not caused him to miss significant action as one could assume from coming back from injury.
If there is an extended absence for Grayer, it could hurt the Patriots going forward. Aside from his rebounding, he is also the best three-point shooter on the roster and arguably the second-best defender on the Patriots.
Up next is William & Mary on Dec. 1 followed by Vermont on Dec. 3. In both of those contests the Patriots will need as much offense as possible.
