The Penn men's basketball team will be without its top returning big man for at least a month.
Sophomore center/forward Adam Chubb is expected to miss four-to-six weeks with a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal bone of his right foot. He suffered the injury in Penn's second practice of the season on Oct. 14 but didn't receive treatment until last week.
"I wasn't really sure what it was at first," Chubb said. "I thought it was [tendon problems], but then it didn't get any better."
Chubb did not inform the Quakers' coaching staff or trainers about his injury. Instead, he took himself to the doctor after continuing to practice on the foot for over a week.
"If he had told us when it first happened, he would have been two weeks into his recovery already," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said.
Chubb, whose training is limited to swimming for the next two weeks, is currently wearing a hard plastic plate as an inner sole and will be fitted with a walking boot in the next few days.
The latter piece of footwear is one Penn is all too familiar with this fall.
Senior forward Dan Solomito suffered a severe ankle sprain earlier this month and junior swingman Duane King fell victim to a stress fracture in September. Both sported boots for several weeks.
Solomito returned to practice yesterday -- "He looked good out there," Dunphy said -- while King is expected to return by Monday.
Chubb was Dunphy's main option off the bench last year and looked to be in the running for a starting spot this season after the graduation of 6-foot-11 center Geoff Owens.
"I wasn't sure about my position, but I knew I'd get a lot of playing time," the 6-foot-10 Chubb said.
Dunphy wouldn't say whether Chubb would have opened the season in the starting lineup, but he did say that "the better he played, the more minutes he was going to get."
Dunphy expects juniors Andrew Coates and Koko Archibong and freshmen Jan Fikiel and Conor Tolan to replace Chubb's minutes.
As a freshman last year, Chubb averaged 3.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.5 blocks while playing in all 26 games.
He has some injury history, however. During high school he suffered a stress fracture in his left shin and broke two bones in his left foot.
Chubb will not be available for Penn's season opener on Nov. 19 at Georgia Tech, and is questionable to see action during the Quakers' trip to Las Vegas over Thanksgiving.
Dunphy expects King to play against the Yellow Jackets, but cautioned, "We don't know what percentage he'll be at."
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