Saturday, January 31, 2009

Patty Mills out for a month

St. Mary's had been playing arguably their best basketball ... ever. Prior to the Gonzaga game, they were 18-1 with a 15 game winning streak, sitting atop the WCC standings at 5-0. In the first 17 minutes of the game, they were up 34-28 and Mills had 18.

All that changed with three minutes to go in the half. As Mills, who was averaging 18.7 ppg and 3.9 apg, penetrated to the middle, he slipped and landed on his right hand. Initially diagnosed as a sprained wrist, he came out and tried to shoot around in second half warm-ups, but apparently it was too painful as he sat out the rest of the game with ice on his hand.

Now comes much worse news - instead of a simple sprained wrist, Mills actually broke a bone in his hand and is expected to be out for around four weeks. This is a huge loss for the Gaels, who, as evidenced by the 28-11 run Gonzaga went on after Mills left, are just not the same team without their PG.

Senior Carlin Hughes will most likely take over point guard duties.

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