Talk to the hand: Thomas, Huskies coping
DON RUIZ; Staff writer
SAN JOSE, CALIF. – Isaiah Thomas, Washington’s No. 2 scorer, probably has a broken bone in his shooting hand.
However, UW fans shouldn’t panic about that affecting the Huskies’ chances against Marquette in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday.
Thomas has been playing with the injury for more than a month. Thomas won the Pacific-10 Conference tournament MVP award last week with the injury.
“It happened in the Cal game (on Feb. 11),” he said. “I didn’t really think of it that much. It went numb off and on. And then in practice a couple of weeks ago it really hurt, and that’s when I got it checked out.”
Thomas said the injury hurts when he falls on it or bangs it into something. But so far, he has found the cures to be worse than the injury.
Before the Pac-10 tournament, UW trainers found a makeshift glove at a Los Angeles novelty shop, cut off the fingers and painted it purple.
Thomas tried it in the opening game against Oregon State and decided he was better off without it.
“It was too much padding in it,” Thomas said. “When I shot, it was like shooting off the palm of my hand. You’re not supposed to do that when you shoot.”
Now, trainers are trying to make a thinner, less-bulky glove for him to wear on his injured hamate bone on the lower palm of his left hand.
He’s hoping for a color change, too.
“I’m trying to get it black,” he said. “I don’t really like the purple.”
Thomas is a sophomore guard from Tacoma and was named last week to the all-Pac-10 team. But coach Lorenzo Romar doesn’t count the injury – which hasn’t been officially diagnosed – among his worries as the 11th-seeded Huskies prepare for No. 6 seed Marquette.
“It’s not a concern to me at all,” Romar said. “He’s been playing pretty good with that.”
Fastbreaks
The Huskies practiced at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Tuesday afternoon and flew to the Bay Area at night. They will practice early today at an undisclosed location and then go to HP Pavilion where they will hold a workout from 5:55 p.m. to 6:35 p.m. that will be open to the public. Marquette’s open practice will run from 4:25 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. ...
Jon Brockman, the former UW star and current Sacramento King, plans to attend the first-round game. ...
Marquette coach
Buzz Williams said that his team is the underdog because it is traveling into Pac-10 country. However, Romar wasn’t buying that. “I don’t know if they’re an underdog anywhere,” he said. “They’ve got the higher seed. We’re just two teams that are going to go in scrappy.” ... The Golden Eagles arrived in San Jose a day ahead of the Huskies to adjust to the change of two time zones from their Milwaukee campus.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Don Ruiz: 253-597-8808
don.ruiz@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
