Holmes out indefinitely

The Gamecocks had Saturday off, and Holmes went home to Bishopville, SC. While there, he suffered the eye injury. Holmes was not available to speak about the injury, but Horn explained details.

“Mike went home and when he returned he had an injury to his eye,” Horn said. “It turns out he has a closed eye injury that is a facial fracture that is going to require surgery and he is going to be out indefinitely.”

Horn was not sure exactly how Holmes suffered the injury. He did not think Holmes did anything wrong, but he was disappointed Holmes was not more careful, especially with forward Dominique Archie also out indefinitely with an injury.

“My understand is he was just horsing around at home, that doesn’t, at this point, help us any because we’re going into a game without another key guy, and our depth has been depleted yet again,” Horn said.

Holmes has started all six games this season. In 32.2 minutes per game, Holmes was averaging 11.0 points per game (fourth on the team) on 60.4 percent shooting and 4.8 rebounds per game (second behind Archie). Horn has not decided who will replace Holmes in the starting lineup.

“My initial reaction is to go as big as we can, and we may have to turn the heat up even more, as crazy as that sounds, and turn the game into an outright track meet and press and get after it as much as we can,” Horn said. “We’ll see how practice unfolds again tomorrow, and that might even be something we decide on Wednesday.”

Holmes is scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday. There is no estimation on when Holmes will return, but he is certainly out against Western Kentucky on Wednesday and almost certainly out against Clemson on Sunday.

“It’s not going to be anytime soon,” Horn said. “Hopefully, after surgery when we see exactly where we are with things at some later point we’ll have a better idea if there is a timetable.”