TAMPA, Fla. – Niels Giffey made the trip with his teammates, but he will be limited to cheering when the Huskies play at South Florida on Wednesday night. His broken right index finger will not require surgery, but he will not be able to play in UConn’s last two games.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “There is no way I could get back in that time, so we will just start the process, see different doctors.”
Giffey said he has looked at video of the play in Cincinnati during which he dislocated and fractured the finger.
“I have looked at it three or four times,” he said, “and to be honest, I still don’t know what happened. It was a play we had a turnover, I deflected the ball, I might have hit the other guy’s hand. If you saw it, the finger was kind of poking out sideways, it was scary.”
There is no timetable for Giffey’s recovery, but he hopes he will be able to play in Germany this summer as planned.
“Hopefully he will recover real soon,” Kevin Ollie said, “and get back to his German national team and have a productive summer and be ready for us next year.”
Said Giffey, “I’m not whining about it. I’m happy it happened at this point of the season when we’ve got only two games left. We have a great season behind us.”
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Kevin Ollie, with his injury-depleted roster, gave the Huskies two days off. They practiced at 8 a.m. Tuesday, before leaving Connecticut for Tampa. “I don’t have that many guys,” he said. “I’m going to go with what I’ve got. This has been a wonderful group to coach all year.”
The Huskies have a noontime shoot-around on Wednesday, with the game at 9 p.m.
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Shabazz Napier, still in the walking boot on his right foot, did not practice Tuesday. “It’s responding to the treatment,” Ollie said, “but the foot is still a little tender. We’ll keep doing what we’re doing.” It will be a game-time decision, as it was at Cincinnati. But if I had to guess right now, I’d guess Napier will not play. I didn’t sense much optimism.
Omar Calhoun said the two days off helped his sprained right wrist and it’s feeling better.
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South Florida won its last game, 83-73, against DePaul and scored an unusual amount of points for them. Ollie is concerned about containing point guard Anthony Collins’ activity in the lane, which makes the Bulls’ offense go.
Here is our capsule look at the matchup, for the Wednesday Courant.
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6 Responses to Giffey Done For Season; Notes, Quotes From The Lobby as Huskies Arrive in Tampa
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Giffey is not a big loss. He didn’t do too much anyways. Now a better player can step up.
Kingsford, I don’t know if you’re trying to get negative reaction, but I couldn’t disagree more. Niels Giffey has played a key role with Huskies. Whether it’s grabbing rebounds, hustling for loose balls, finding open guys or making a clutch free throw or basket, he’s made significant contributions all year.
“a better player”, have you seen the roster? Pay attention more during games, Giffey is one of the most valuable players on the squad. In the second half of games, Ollie usually sticks with the same 5 guys the whole time: Napier, Boatright, Giffey, Daniels, Calhoun.
When Giffey is out there, the defense becomes tighter and the team seems to play with an all around greater sense of urgency. We will miss Giffey even in just these 2 games. he’s the utility guy who doesn’t show up much in the box score but allows you to win games with huge stops and also clutch buckets right when we need him.
Oh, and he’s also a solid defender!
Giffey has been a significant player this year and his value has increased markedly as the year has gone on.
If he could regain the confidence in his shot that he seemed to have during the Maui Invitational his freshman year he could be a great player next year.
I agree with Michael K that he has an all around game and contributes in many ways, not just with his offense.
Kingsford: don’t know what games you’ve been watching but to say Giffey isn’t much of a player tells me you’ve been falling asleep on the couch during games.