X-Rays Will Give Eagles Clearer Picture On Olson
Eastern Washington’s Aaron Olson is practicing again, but the Eagles won’t know until Friday whether their 6-foot-5 senior guard will be allowed to play in Saturday night’s non-conference men’s basketball game at Idaho.
Olson, the leading returning scorer off last year’s 15-12 team that earned a share of the Big Sky Conference championship, chipped a bone in the pinkie finger of his shooting hand in a season-opening loss to Gonzaga and hasn’t played since.
He practiced for the first time since sustaining the injury on Monday and Eagles coach Ray Giacolet ti assumed he would be available to play against the Vandals in Moscow. But following Wednes- day’s practice, Giacoletti was informed by the team trainer that Olson must undergo additional X-rays on Friday before he can be cleared to play.
“This has really been a frustrating situation,” said Giacoletti, who originally thought Olson would only miss a game or two with the injury. “Here we are, six weeks into Aaron’s senior year, and he’s only played 17 minutes the whole season.”
Olson, who averaged 10.3 points per game as a junior last year, stayed in “great shape” during his prolonged absence, according to Giacoletti.
“But you can never stay in basketball shape,” Giacoletti added. “The first day back he was kind of running without a purpose, but he practiced much better today. I’ve been watching him for the last three days now and he’s starting to knock down 3s again
“I’m not going to be real happy if they don’t clear him to play.”
The Eagles are 4-5 after losing consecutive road games to Cal Poly, Kansas State and Oregon State.
Stress fracture shelves Hull
Clint Hull, a freshman walk-on guard from Pateros, will miss at least three weeks and possibly the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his foot.
Hull played only sparingly during Eastern’s recently completed three-game road trip because of the pain in his foot, which was originally diagnosed as a pinched nerve. But he played in all three games, which put him over the limit for being able to appeal for a medical hardship season.
“Basically, we burned his redshirt year,” Giacoletti said of the 6-2 Hull, who has averaged 4.1 points while playing in all nine of EWU’s games this winter.
“If we’d have known about (the stress fracture), we wouldn’t have used him on the road trip and, with only six games, he’d have been eligible for a medical redshirt year. He probably didn’t play a total of 10 minutes in the three games, but we gave him a shot in each one just to see how he felt.” Hull will have additional X-rays Friday.
Starters will sit
Seniors Chris White, Jamal Jones and Kareem Hunter will be held out of the starting lineup Saturday night for disciplinary reasons.
“They won’t start, but they’ll all play,” said Giacoletti, who refused to elaborate on the incident other than to say the three regulars violated team rules. “What they did is no big deal, but it is to me.”
White, a 6-9 forward, has started all nine games for the Eagles this year. Jones, a 6-0 point guard, and Hunter, a 6-6 forward, have started eight.
Home, home on the road
After tripping halfway across the country and back on their recent eight-day, three-game road trip, the Eagles are treating Saturday night’s game in Moscow as a home game.
“We’re going to sleep in our own beds Friday night, have a shootaround here Saturday morning and then bus down for the game,” Giacoletti explained. “It’s a big game for us. A win would get us back to .500 in non-conference play, and with our non-conference schedule, that’s a record I certainly wouldn’t be ashamed of.”