CARBONDALE (WSIL) -- SIU will open the season without promising power forward JD Muila.
Last week at practice the 6-8 transfer from Indian Hills junior College in Iowa tore his meniscus.
Muila, a junior, had surgery on Tuesday and will miss 6 to 8 weeks.
Muila is regarded for his rebounding prowess, and he'll be missed but according to Coach there's depth and options.
"Kyler (Filewich) and Anthony (D'Avanzo) have been doing great an I think those two guys are going to have a great opportunity early on," SIU Head Men's Basketball Coach Bryan Mullins said. Sekou (Dembele) has been progressing over the last couple weeks, not really sure where he is going to stand by November 25th and those three guys are going to be big for us inside here and a good thing is you can always go smaller, you can always go smaller and spread the court so we'll look at different lineups and different combinations here over the next three weeks before we get going."
One combination could include Freshman Kyler Filewich getting condsiderable minutes in the middle.
Every week Coach Mullins gives us insight on a player so let's learn more about the 6'9" 250 pound center from Canada.
"You know Kyler has such a great work ethic, comes from a great family and he wants to be good. He loves basketball and he takes coaching. He's a yes sir no sir type of young man and he's improved so much over the 4-5 months he's been here and his best basketball is going to continue to be ahead of him and once he starts getting some game experience, he's only going to progress more and more. He's still a freshman obviously and that's as a coaching staff we talk about every day. We still have to continue to teach him. He's going to have a great career as a Saluki."
