And so the Explorers play on, albeit with one foot on a banana peel. They announced Saturday that senior forward Yves Mekongo will be out two-to-four weeks thanks to surgery on a finger that was broken during practice on Feb. 8. Which brings to the number of injured senior La Salle starters to three: Ruben Guillandeaux went down with a stress fracture in his right foot just four games into the season, and Kimmani Barrett was lost to a broken foot after 15 games. As a result, Steve Weingarten, Parrish Grant and Devon White all had to log 30 minutes against Duquesne, and the Explorers turned it over 28 times (is that even possible?) and blew a 14-point lead en route to losing by 21. That’s right. Read that italicized phrase again.

Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has some audio of coach John Giannini and some other odds and ends here, and Ray Parillo of The Inquirer has Giannini’s reaction to this incredible string of bad luck on the injury front:

“It’s not a tragedy you see happen to people in real life,” he said. “But from a basketball perspective we’re definitely in the critical care unit right now.”

Now 11-13, 3-7 A-10, the Explorers are tied with George Washington and St. Bonaventure as the last three teams to qualify for the 12-team A-10 tournament. And next up is a road game Thursday at Dayton (17-7, 6-4). We’re kinda starting to think that if someone else gets hurt, Coach G will be giving us a ring to see if we have any eligibility remaining.

Links: Yves, you’re up to get hurt [La Salle University]
A look back at Duquesne 103, La Salle 82 [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Another week, another injury for La Salle [The Inquirer]