UA BASKETBALL : Weems avoids surgery
Posted on Thursday, August 30, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/199963/
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas forward Sonny Weems won’t require surgery on his broken left hand and should be ready to resume practice in October.
“That was a big relief,” Weems said Wednesday of the news that his hand injury won’t keep him sidelined for this season. “I thank God it wasn’t worse.”
Weems, a 6-6 senior from West Memphis, said he broke his hand when he hit it on a teammate’s knee going for a loose ball during Tuesday’s practice.
The Razorbacks have been practicing the past two weeks in preparation for a weekend trip to Cancun, Mexico, where they’ll play two exhibition games against foreign teams.
Weems still will travel with the team to Cancun, where he also took his high school senior trip, but he won’t be able to play this weekend.
“At first I was little bummed out about it, but now I’m OK,” said Weems, who started 32 of 35 games last season and was the team’s second-leading scorer (11. 8 ) and rebounder (4. 8 ). “If it was going to happen, it’s better for it happen now than in November or December.
“ Better to get it out of the way now.”
Weems, who was wearing a red cast on his left hand before the team practiced Wednesday, is right-handed.
“If it was his shooting hand [broken ], there’d be a little more concern,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “We’re thankful it wasn’t his right hand.”
Weems said he’ll need to wear a cast on his left hand for about four weeks, then will wear a light splint for two or three weeks. He said he should be able to go through individual workouts — which are allowed under NCAA rules when school is in session, but teams can’t have full-scale practices — while wearing the splint.
Weems said he broke his right thumb the summer before his senior year at West Memphis and missed the AAU National Tournament.
“That was worse than this [most recent injury ] because that was my on right hand and this is my left hand,” he said. “This won’t mess up my jumper. The jumper is safe.”
Pelphrey, who was hired as Arkansas’ coach in April, said he’s been impressed by Weems in practice.
“I think that Sonny is better than I anticipated from a talent standpoint,” Pelphrey said. “From all-around, the whole deal.”
Arkansas sophomore backup guard Stefan Welsh, who injured his left hamstring last Tuesday during the team’s first practice, has been practicing on a limited basis and might be able to play in Cancun, Pelphrey said.
“Stef’s not 100 percent. He’s probably, ballpark, 60 percent,” Pelphrey said. “But there’s a chance he’ll play [this weekend ]. We’re pleasantly surprised.
“ I think he’s done a good job rehabbing and [trainer ] Dave [England ] has done a great job getting him back.”
Senior point guard Gary Ervin, who started 29 games last season, returned to practice last Friday after being in New York for his grandmother’s funeral.
Practices the past week have been Pelphrey’s first chance to see Ervin in live action because he didn’t participate in individual workouts last spring after undergoing knee surgery to have calcium deposits removed.
“Gary’s not behind,” Pelphrey said. “We were able to quickly get him brought up to speed.”