Hendrickson Will Miss Husky Game
Washington State’s Mark Hendrickson dribbled a basketball Monday for the first time in almost three weeks, but the senior forward still won’t play in Sunday’s game against Washington, Cougars coach Kevin Eastman said Tuesday.
In addition, Eastman said the status of point guard Donminic Ellison hasn’t changed since last week when he was suspended indefinitely for academic reasons.
That means WSU could once again be without its two key starters when it travels to Seattle to face the Huskies in a 12:30 p.m. Pacific-10 Conference game that will be televised live on Prime Sports Northwest.
Neither Hendrickson, who broke the fifth metacarpal in his left hand in a Dec. 27 road win over San Jose State, nor Ellison played during last weekend’s swing through Oregon, which produced a split.
Hendrickson, averaging 17 points and a Pac-10-leading 9.9 rebounds at the time of his injury, has missed WSU’s last five games and is listed as doubtful for next week’s home games against California (Thursday night) and Stanford (Saturday afternoon).
Ellison, averaging 15.6 points and a team-high 5.2 assists, was suspended last Wednesday after first semester grades were released and did not make the Oregon trip. Eastman said then the 5-foot-10 junior was eligible under university and NCAA guidelines.
He reiterated as much Tuesday, but admitted there is a chance Ellison might miss the UW game and even the remainder of the season if he doesn’t shape up academically.
“Right now (his reinstatement) depends on his getting some things done that he needs to by, A) putting some mental thoughts together, and, B) putting some things down on paper that we can talk about.”
Eastman, citing privacy laws, has refused to give specifics about Ellison’s classroom difficulties. But he has hinted that part of the reason behind the suspension is Ellison’s failure to live up to an academic agreement the two made earlier.
Eastman said Ellison could still play against UW this weekend if he takes the proper steps needed to shore up his academic deficiencies. He added he hopes to find out more about Ellison’s progress today.
Hendrickson’s progress is slow, but encouraging, Eastman said.
“There is definitely still a fracture, but the good news is it’s healing a little bit,” Eastman said. “He dribbled in legitimate fashion for the first time (Monday). That’s a stride, as small as it is, I guess. But he hasn’t shot or anything like that and he’s just trying to stay in as decent shape as he can.”
, DataTimes