Dominic James still isn't quite sure which play led to the end of his playing career at Marquette.

He knows it happened early in Marquette's 93-82 loss to Connecticut on Feb. 25. He knows he felt a distinct "pop." He remembers jogging back down the court and signaling to coach Buzz Williams that he needed to come out.

But he can't put a definitive finger on the step that finished him.

"I still haven't watched the clip from the game. I caught the tail end of it on ESPN when they showed a highlight, but I wasn't even really sure that it was the play that really hurt it," James said. "All I can remember is that I planted on it wrong, and it kind of felt like my shoe had busted open."

The sensation James actually felt was the fifth metatarsal on his left foot breaking. The fifth metatarsal is the long, thin bone on the outside of the foot that connects to the little toe.

The fracture is similar to that suffered by Marquette center Liam McMorrow before the season. McMorrow is currently sitting out a season due to NCAA transfer-rules but was held out of practice for roughly three months with a fractured fifth metatarsal.

Team trainer Ernest Eugene said an injury like James' is far more common in players similar to McMorrow's size.

"That's so rare in a person of (James') stature, his weight," Eugene said. "He's a guard, he's jumping and running but not with the force, not with the weight that someone like Liam was doing."

Eugene said that McMorrow was able to beat the usual rehab standards for a player coming back from a foot fracture but said that on average James can expect to be wearing a fiberglass boot for eight weeks.

"Usually you're in a fiberglass splint for two weeks. At that point you're in a boot, non-weight bearing, for an additional two weeks," he said. "After four weeks we like to see how the bone has progressed. . That's when partial weight bearing is tolerated."

Eugene added that the rarity of the injury in a player James' size might actually be to his advantage during the rehab process. Still, he warned that there is no way to know for certain how long it will take for James to recover.

"Liam did well, and he surpassed (the eight-week mark). I feel that Dominic may surpass that as well," Eugene said. "You never know how people are going to respond. It may be longer, it may be less. I don't know."

What is certain is that the Golden Eagles will need to move forward without James as their point guard. In three games without James (including the Connecticut game in which he played just four minutes) Marquette is 0-3. The Golden Eagles have shot just 39.8 percent from the floor and have turned the ball over 31 times against 33 assists.

"Dominic is hurt, and life moves on," Williams said Monday. "Today will be the first time that we've had practice all year long the day following a game…We've got to figure out the best way that we can and the most efficient way that we can to give ourselves a chance for success."

Marquette will need to adjust quickly to break that three-game losing streak against Syracuse Saturday. The Orange come to Milwaukee riding a three-game winning streak and boast the Big East's highest scoring offense (79.9 points per game).

Still the goals of James — who will be back on the Marquette sideline after missing trips to Louisville and Pittsburgh — and the Golden Eagles have not changed a bit.

"If they get a ring, I get a ring," James said. "My season's not over with…I hate it when people say your career is over, your season is over. No it's not. Marquette still plays."