The Hawaii basketball team will keep with its season theme of weathering adversity as it prepares to ring in the new year.
Senior guard Garrett Nevels requires surgery on his right hand between his thumb and index finger after suffering what’s known as a "gamekeeper’s thumb" injury. He will miss a to-be-determined number of games.
The tear to the ulnar collateral ligament (connective tissue) of the thumb of Nevels’ shooting hand came with about eight minutes remaining in UH’s 69-66 win over Colorado in the third-place game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Christmas Day. Nevels, UH’s second-leading scorer (12.0) and one of its top 3-point threats (team-best 23 3s made), played the rest of the game despite experiencing discomfort — he’d basically lost the function of his thumb. He focused on defense because he couldn’t shoot or dribble effectively.
"It’s a really tough loss for us. So we’re going to have to somehow find a way," UH coach Benjy Taylor said.
Nevels is scheduled to have the surgery on Wednesday, once swelling goes down. He will miss back-to-back home games on Monday and Tuesday against Southwestern Athletic Conference teams Southern (3-10) and Prairie View A&M (2-10).
Nevels said he is preparing for the start of Big West Conference play Jan. 7 against Cal Poly.
He was a partial participant at Saturday’s team practice while wearing a brace on his wrist and thumb area. He did not enter contact drills and did some left-handed dribbling and shooting on the side.
He was stoic about the injury afterward.
"I’ll be good by conference," Nevels said. "This is an opportunity to work on my left hand. Just finishing, attacking. I’m just looking at it as a chance to get better."
Taylor called it a "wait-and-see thing" to how he responds to surgery.
"He could actually try to play, but he’s right-handed," Taylor said. "Physically he did everything today except for contact. Shoot, he looked good out there. But he just can’t shoot it, can’t dribble it. He’s got a catcher’s mitt on. So I don’t want to further injure it."
Taylor said he will start freshman Isaac Fleming at shooting guard for the next two games and integrate either junior Brandon Jawato or freshman Niko Filipovich into the rotation.
Taylor thinks Nevels’ scoring can be replicated by committee, but he is more concerned about some of the intangibles brought by his lone senior and co-captain.
"Emotionally and mentally, that’s what I’m concerned about," he said. "Because he’s quietly turned into one of our better defenders. And he doesn’t get rattled. I can yell at him, I can do whatever and you know, he’s just mentally tough. That’s what we’re going to be missing. His mental toughness and his intestinal fortitude."
Nevels had two highlight-reel-quality blocks in the win over the Buffaloes. He said he’ll be as active as possible in games he misses.
"Just encourage (my teammates). Be a coach out on the sidelines," Nevels said. "And, you know, some people are going to have to step up. Not just scoring-wise, but rebounding and defense. Just everything. It’s not going to be one person, it’s going to have to be the whole team."
Point guard Roderick Bobbitt also missed Saturday’s practice with a cold. In addition, his left eye was swollen shut from the elbow and subsequent nine stitches he received during the CU game. But he isn’t expected to miss further time because of it.
