WICHITA STATE MBB: Ron Baker Diagnosed with Stress Fracture

WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State starting guard Ron Baker will miss approximately six weeks with a stress fracture in his left foot as the third Shocker starter currently injured, Head Basketball Coach Gregg Marshall announced today.

He is the fourth Shocker starter injured since Nov. 21 who will miss significant playing time. The three currently injured players represent 28 season starts.

Coach Marshall announced Monday that senior forward Carl Hall (Cochran, Ga.) will miss four weeks with a broken right thumb, while sophomore guard Evan Wessel (Wichita) is out with a broken right pinky, which could also require surgery.

Seven-foot center Ehimen Orukpe (Lagos, Nigeria) missed three games with a sprained right ankle suffered Nov. 21 against Iowa before he saw seven minutes of limited time off the bench against Tennessee.

Baker, a redshirt freshman from Scott City, averages 7.3 points and 2.6 rebounds through the first 10 games.

Wichita State has 11 players suiting up for practice, including transfer Kadeem Coleby (Nassau, Bahamas/Louisiana-Lafayette), and redshirting freshmen Derail Green (Houston, Texas) and Zach Bush (Wichita).

"The guys who were out there practiced very hard and very well yesterday and today," Marshall said. "I'm assuming these guys are excited about having an opportunity to step into a more prominent role. That's why you use all of your scholarships, but it's not going to make it any easier. Our margin for error is much less than it was approximately a week ago. We've literally got three starters out, and another one banged up. They were starters for a reason."

Wichita State next plays 7 p.m., Thursday at home against Charleston Southern.

"We need quite an atmosphere Thursday night," Marshall said. "At this point the Shocker faithful needs to do what they can to help. It's not on them. It's on us, but anything they can do to rally around this team with noise and support. We've got a few home games before Christmas and we've got the one right after Christmas against Northern Iowa. This place needs to be as loud as it can possibly be. We're 9-1, but we've had our wings clipped a little bit and we've got to use every available resource and that's certainly a big one."

Division 11 player bitten by a shark

Of all the injuries college basketball players have sustained this year, Chad Renfro's may have been the scariest. Renfro, the leading returning scorer at Division II Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., was paddling out on his surfboard to catch a wave at a beach near his parents home in Jacksonville when he felt sharp pain in his left foot. A shark bit him with enough force to slice most of a tendon, damage a bone and require 85 stitches to close the wound. "Immediately I knew what it was, so I just paddled back in as fast as I could — caught the next wave in," Renfro told WJXT-TV in Jacksonville. "I was sitting there and people kept looking at me. I was trying to get someone to help me, and then one girl had walked over and I told her to call 911, and then I saw the lifeguards drive by, and so I just hollered for them and they came over." The silver lining to the shark attack is Renfro's injuries could have been far worse. The 6-foot-4 guard expects to return to the basketball court in time for the start of next season and even hopes to get back on a surfboard as soon as possible. Experts have said what bit Renfro was likely either a four-to-five-foot bull or lemon shark, both of which are common off the coast of Florida. Renfro's mom joked with WJXT-TV that her son would be more likely to win the lottery than get bit by a shark while surfing. Hopefully he buys a winning ticket when he leaves the hospital because he's due for some good luck.