Andreas Schreiber played last night for the first time this year after spending weeks recovering from a shoulder injury he sustained in preseason practice.
Coach Glen Miller had kept the injury, and Schreiber's status, murky. But the junior forward confirmed after Penn's 69-47 loss to Villanova that he had sustained a torn labrum, that he would attempt to play through it, and that he would have corrective surgery after the season ends.
"Right now I'm just strengthening it, so I can get back to where I've been," he said. "It's a terrible thing to get hurt."
Schreiber played 14 minutes and scored two points on free throws, although he went 0-for-4 from the floor, including a three-pointer that barely reached the rim and perhaps underscored the strength Schreiber has lost in his right (shooting) shoulder.
The junior forward had been through roughly a week of non-contact practice and two days of normal practice before last night, Miller said. His task was complicated by his defensive assignment: Villanova's Dante Cunningham, who used his superior quickness to outmaneuver the Penn frontcourt and tally 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Despite the uncertain road ahead and the possibility of a setback, Schreiber said he would not hold back to protect his shoulder.
"I'm going to throw myself after the ball," he said. (Indeed, he did after a missed free throw late in the game.)
The layoff affected not just his basketball-related activities but his cardiovascular routine as well. He said he had been "huffing and puffing" in practice but that he was confident that his body would come around.
The labrum is a thick cuff of cartilage that essentially keeps the arm's biggest bone, the humerus, within the shoulder socket. Schreiber wore a padded sleeve over his shoulder to stabilize the joint.
Schreiber's return coincided with a game that showed just how empty-handed Penn's frontcourt has been without him. Although he has never been a first-rate scorer of sophomore Jack Eggleston's caliber, Schreiber drew some of Penn's toughest defensive assignments last year and can at least match up in size with players like Cunningham. According to listed weights, he is the heaviest player on the Quakers' roster by a 15-pound margin.
Villanova coach Jay Wright attributed the Wildcats' 19 offensive rebounds and 47-24 rebounding margin to the "older bodies" on his team. The status of Schreiber's shoulder could determine whether the Quakers continue to be as undermanned on the boards as they were last night.
