Stevenson junior guard Rocco Pagliocca kept telling himself that it would feel better soon.
But his pain lingered as the season drew closer.
“I thought it was something with my back, but it wasn’t anything crazy, so I tried to play on it a couple of times,” Pagliocca said. “But it really wouldn’t go away and wasn’t getting any better.”
The 6-foot-2 Pagliocca had suffered a fracture in his first rib — he didn’t know how — and the healing process created a more serious issue.
“The way it healed, the bone got a little bigger and built callus around it, so it started to cut the blood flow off down my arm,” he said. “When I would move my arm, the blood flow would get cut off. I would feel pain from the nerve whenever I lifted my arm. That stuck with me. It confused me why that was hurting, and it was pretty painful.”
In November, doctors determined that Pagliocca was suffering from thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition that occurs when nerves or blood vessels are compressed between the first rib and collarbone. Pagliocca, who was coming off an impressive sophomore season, needed surgery.
“It was pretty hard to hear that I would be having surgery right before my junior season,” Pagliocca said. “It was a pretty big surgery. They had to be so careful to go around the nerves.”
Pagliocca actually played in the Patriots’ season opener against Lake Park in Palatine’s Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 25. His surgery came two days later and took more than four hours, he said. His recovery, at least in his mind, was slow.
“For the first week, I had to get helped up,” Pagliocca said. “I couldn’t sit up on my own. I couldn’t really eat on my own because of the multiple incisions in my chest area and down my back.
“I was pretty worried because I had never gone through something like that. There was pain in so many different places. I was thinking, ‘How am I supposed to go out there and play basketball again?’”
Yes, basketball was his primary concern, reflecting his lifelong passion for the sport. But Pagliocca’s father Jeff, a longtime local basketball trainer who is the general manager of the Chicago Sky, was more worried about his health.
“Basketball is his identity,” Jeff Pagliocca said. “It’s my identity. He loves the game and pours his life into it. But in the situation he was in, basketball became a distant second. Even after the surgery, we knew his pain would be significant for months.
“For him to bounce back as quickly as he did, a major part of it is that he’s really tough and him just wanting to play basketball.”
Rocco Pagliocca played a few minutes off the bench on Dec. 17, just 20 days after surgery, and hit four straight free throws late in the game to help North Suburban Conference leader Stevenson (18-8, 9-2) beat Lockport. Two games later, he scored 23 points in a loss to Fremd in the Wheeling Hardwood Classic.
Despite his strong showing, Pagliocca didn’t feel confident.
“I wouldn’t say I was scared something was going to happen, but I wasn’t used to any of this,” he said. “Usually I can play through stuff, but it was affecting me mentally too.”
A lack of practice time also held him back.
“Rocco is a kid who loves practicing, so that added to the tough times he was experiencing,” Stevenson coach Will Benson said. “It was hard to see him go through all of that, just from a human standpoint. Once we got around MLK weekend, you could tell he was getting closer.
“It’s nice to see him back having fun again.”
Pagliocca is having fun, as are the Patriots, who entered the week having won six straight games and nine out of their past 10.
It’s no coincidence that Pagliocca is finding his stride. He’s averaging 12.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals, but his scoring has jumped to 16.8 points over the past five games. He had 23 points in a win against Prospect on Jan. 25 and a game-high 22 points in a key conference win against Waukegan on Jan. 31.
Pagliocca also ranks second on the team in charges taken.
“I’m definitely more confident now, and we’re building that team chemistry and playing at a level I think we should be at,” Pagliocca said. “And when I’m having lows, I remind myself of what I’m doing now compared to what I was going through a couple of months ago.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.
