Yahoo Sports 
Why Matt Shrigley's injury could be damaging for SDSU
For an injury that will sideline one of its reserve wings for only a month or so, the loss of Matt Shrigley could be unusually damaging for San Diego State.
That's because Shrigley's absence exacerbates the Aztecs' biggest weakness and comes at an especially inopportune point in the schedule.
Shrigley suffered a small fracture in his left elbow as he was going up for a breakaway slam during the first half of an exhibition victory over Point Loma Nazarene on Saturday night. An opposing player chased him down and gave a hard swipe at the ball, earning a flagrant foul and sending Shrigley crashing to the floor.
The injury removes one of the few dangerous perimeter shooters from the Aztecs' rotation at a time when they will be trying to find scorers to help make up for the graduation of Xavier Thames. The 6-foot-6 Shrigley averaged a modest 5.2 points per game off the bench last season as a freshman, but San Diego State was hopeful that his streaky 35.4 percent 3-point shooting would improve dramatically this year.
Without Shrigley, San Diego State will need other complementary scorers to emerge in support of standout wings Winston Shepard and Dwayne Polee Jr. Since previous injuries to highly touted freshmen Malik Pope and Zylan Cheatham remove them from the equation for at least the opening month of the season, the burden may fall to fellow freshman Trey Kell, versatile senior forward J.J. O'Brien and defensive-minded big men Skylar Spencer and Angelo Chol.
San Diego State will need to find scoring options quickly because the teeth of its schedule arrives early. The Aztecs host Pac-12 contender Utah on Nov. 18, begins play in the Maui Invitational the following week and visits Washington and Cincinnati in early-December.
With the Mountain West seemingly lacking other surefire NCAA tournament-caliber teams, it's critical for San Diego State to perform well out of conference if it intends to earn a high seeding this March. An elite defense and formidable rebounding will be enough in some games, but finding timely scoring will be critical in others.
- - - - - - -
Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
