Wittenberg coach Bill Brown has always played a nine or 10-man rotation. It’s rare for a Wittenberg player to average 30 minutes per game.

That could change over the rest of this season. The Tigers will be without two players who have averaged double-figure minutes in today’s 4 p.m. game against Ohio Wesleyan at Pam Evans Smith Arena, and their status for future games is uncertain.

Cam Walton, who missed the two games last week in the Charles B. Zimmerman Classic because of a sore knee, won’t play today, and neither will sophomore forward John Albertson, who hyper-extended his elbow in Wittenberg’s last game against Taylor on Saturday.

Brown said he would play eight players today.

“It would be a grab bag to go any deeper than that,” he said. “It’s a severe situation.”

Walton could return next week depending on how bad his pain is. Albertston’s status is more uncertain.

“He may be done for the year,” Brown said. “He may need surgery. With him and Cam out, that’s two of the nine guys we’ve played all year.”

The injuries come at a bad time because this is the most important part of Wittenberg’s season. The Tigers (8-3) play nothing but North Coast Athletic Conference games for the rest of the regular season.

The league’s two top-25 teams, No. 15 Wooster (10-2, 4-0 NCAC) and No. 18 Ohio Wesleyan (10-1, 3-0 NCAC), are the clear-cut favorites in the league race. Wooster already has a road victory over the Tigers. Ohio Wesleyan could put the Tigers in a deeper hole with a victory today.

However, seven of the NCAC’s 10 teams are at .500 or better. There’s a long way to go before anything’s decided.

“There’s just a wealth of other very good teams that could beat Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan,” Brown said.

Ohio Wesleyan has lost six in a row to the Tigers, but it has eight seniors this season, and six of them play at least 10 minutes per game. Their top scorer, Taylor Rieger, is a transfer from Notre Dame College. The 6-foot junior guard is averaging 12.9 points per game.

Ohio Wesleyan leads the NCAC in scoring with 74.2 points per game, but it doesn’t have a single player in the top 10 in scoring. Six players average between seven and 13 points per game.

“We’ve been that way more times than not,” Brown said. “We’re a little bit that way now. It sure does make it difficult. You can’t really concern your defense with one player.”

The Tigers will try to get their offense back on track after scoring 42 points against Taylor, its second-worst performance of the season.

“We’re trying to find some answers,” Brown said. “There are no personnel answers. It’s going to be the same personnel.”