Erik Copes has been playing through a lot of pain

Erik Copes had surgery in the off-season on his hip and it limited any training during the summer. Kevin Dunleavy of the Washington Examiner tells us yesterday that his return from the injury has been quite painful. On Saturday when it was announced Copes was out for the UNCW game, Dunleavy mentioned to me that the hip injury had has been an on-going problem still this season:

@gmuhoops On TUE Paul H. said Copes hip has been problematic -- on and off all year. Explains why he has lacked the explosion of 2011-12.
— Kevin Dunleavy (@KDunleavy) January 12, 2013

And from his article yesterday you can get a feeling for much it has been holding him back this season.

"After a summer of inactivity, Copes received medical clearance to play this year but with warnings that there would be soreness. Copes describes the pain as a "pinching" sensation.

"I don't want to say I should have redshirted. I don't think that," Copes said. "It's just pain that I've got to push through."

Copes was expected to be one of the constants on this team and now it seems that this is just another issue for the Patriots. Without him in the lineup against UNCW their was lack of toughness inside was greatly exposed. Copes is a hard worker on the boards and Mason really doesn't have any other guy like that on the roster.

[Photo by John Powell]