Alex Zampier did not play in Yale’s 75-69 loss to Lehigh last night. According to Yale Athletics’ game recap, he sustained a sprained ankle in practice on Monday and was held out of the contest against the Mountain Hawks.

No timetable was mentioned for his return, though with home games against Albertus Magnus and NJIT to close out the week, there is likely no hurry for him to return to the lineup until the home date with Brown on January 15th.

Freshman Austin Morgan got some added minutes in Zampier’s absence and played well, going 5-for-9 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line for 14 points, though he did have three turnovers. Sophomore forward Greg Mangano had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, but shot a horrible 3-for-11 from the field.

Slant: Classifying an injury as a sprained ankle is often a vague description of an ankle ailment and depends on the extent of the damage done to the ligament. According to a variety of web resources, if the ligament was merely stretched (a Grade 1 sprain), normal recovery time is a week or two, which would put him back in action by the Brown game. But if the ligament was torn partially or completely (Grade 2 or 3 sprains), the recovery time can last weeks or months.

The Yale offense got 69 points on 70 possessions, a slightly better-than-average performance in Zampier’s absence. This shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the senior guard’s efficiency statistics, nor should the fact that Lehigh’s 108 offensive rating was slightly worse than what Yale had been allowing defensively. Zampier’s 56.3 stop percentage leads the team and was top 10 in the league, so it’s little surprise that Lehigh fared well on the offensive end in Zampier’s absence.