Brandon Spearman won’t call it a season just yet.
MRI results received Monday about the Hawaii basketball junior guard’s left ankle were not good. Ligament tears around the joint could shelve him for the remainder of the 2012-13 season.
Spearman, the team’s third-leading scorer at 9.7 points per game, refused to let the severe sprain be a deal breaker. He pledged to go for rehab treatment at least twice a day with a return in mind.
"I think I’m going to be back. … I believe I’ll be back," he said.
Spearman first indicated Monday he was told he’d be out two to four weeks, which would leave open the possibility of a return by the Big West tournament starting March 14. But UH coach Gib Arnold said he was told two to three months, which would effectively send Spearman into offseason rehab mode.
When Arnold received the MRI news, he was near the end of a 10-hour recruiting drive around, coincidentally, Spearman’s home state of Illinois.
"I was told by the doctor … that he would not be back (in time)," said Arnold. But the coach allowed, "You can’t really completely predict" the time frame and they’d check for updates as the swelling in Spearman’s foot subsided.
UH (15-11, 9-6) is in a virtual third-place tie with Cal Poly with three BWC regular-season games remaining. Spearman, a transfer from Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College, started 17 of the 26 games to this point. He is second on the team in steals (29) and second in assists (36).
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Spearman turned his ankle while going for a blocked shot just before halftime in Hawaii’s 80-71 loss at Pacific on Saturday.
"You never want to see a kid hurt at all, not even miss practice, let alone a game and possibly the end of the season like that," Arnold said. "It’s a big loss. He’s a big part of what we do on both ends of the floor. He’s one of our better defenders, one of our better athletes, and one of our top scorers. So yeah, we’re going to miss him. But it just means someone else’s minutes will increase and they’ll have to pick up the slack."
Freshman forward Isaac Fotu (9.7 ppg) could rejoin the starting lineup as part of a bigger group. Another option is redshirt freshman Brandon Jawato, who is shooting 43.3 percent on 3-pointers. Freshmen Ozren Pavlovic and Manroop Clair have also received starts.
"Not determined yet," Arnold said. "It’ll be based on opponents and some things we work on this week."
Spearman said he’d lend what support he could to his teammates during the rehab process.
"Just be there for those guys. Guide them and teach them, like I’m another coach," Spearman said. "We just have to make progress. I know they’re capable of doing it."
UH breaks from league play this week to take on Northern Arizona (10-16) of the Big Sky Conference. The Rainbow Warriors resume full practice on Wednesday coming off their 0-2 road trip.
