Will Pierre be Back Saturday?

If urgency is a factor for James Madison, one would think so.

JMU sophomore point guard Pierre Curtis, who has a sprain and a bone bruise in his left knee, was warming up Wednesday before the game at VCU. Unfortunately for the Dukes, his injury bothered him enough that he sat out his third straight contest.

“Being on the road without our starting point guard, we knew we would have to do an awful lot right,” JMU coach Dean Keener said. “Unfortunately we didn’t there in the first half where we had some critical turnovers, as well as allowing four offensive rebounds that really got them going.”

Curtis leads the team in free throw percentage and averages 10.7 points and a team-high 4.2 assists per game. Without him, JMU struggled to run its half-court offense at VCU.

“Ben [Louis] and Abdulai [Jalloh] really had some key turnovers in the first half that were live-ball and led to some run-outs and transition baskets for them, and then that allowed them again to set their defense,” Keener said.

JMU (11-13 overall, 4-10 in the conference) will regroup and prepare for a home game Saturday against Hofstra (8-16, 5-9), one of four conference games left for the Dukes. Keener said Curtis might be back for that game, but indicated that the situation is day-to-day.