Jackson’s injury adds to tough week

It’ll be another week before UConn gets to play a game. Until then, the Huskies will continue to be mostly cooped up in their dorm rooms, unable to go home for Christmas.

Oh, and one of their prized freshman is out for a while with a broken left wrist.

So how’s your week going?

Freshman forward Andre Jackson will be sidelined for an indefinite amount of time after suffering a broken left wrist in practice on Monday. There is no timetable for his return, though broken wrist injuries typically take at least 6-8 weeks to heal.

UConn coach Dan Hurley said that no one is sure exactly how Jackson suffered the injury during a light practice.

“Dre’s a tough kid,” Hurley said. “He didn’t really feel the pain until that next day, coming into the facility for the COVID test.”

Meanwhile, Jackson and the rest of his teammates will remain on campus for Christmas. If they returned home, DePaul would not have played the Huskies in their slated bout at Gampel Pavilion on Dec. 30, according to Hurley.

And so, UConn’s heartbreaking, overtime loss to No. 13 Creighton on Dec. 20 will have to stick in their craw for another week.

“You feel for these guys,” Hurley noted, “but I know they’re very determined to get back on the court to play another game, because

we don’t like the taste of the way the last one ended.”

Jackson, a 6-foot-6 swingman and a national

top-50 recruit out of Albany Academy, has struggled in his first four games as a Husky, averaging just 1.0 points and 8.2 minutes per game. After playing 19 minutes in a season-opening win over Central Connecticut State, Jackson has played no more than five minutes in each of the Huskies’ last three games.

Ironically, his playing time seemed likely to increase in the coming games, according to Hurley.

“Post-Creighton game, you’re feeling a greater urgency to get Dre on the court,” the coach said. “I think the thought process was, we’ve got to get that guy up to speed defensively, so we can get Dre’s talent on court.”

Possibly off-setting Jackson’s loss will be the returns of Tyler Polley and Akok Akok. Polley, a 6-9 forward and the team’s most consistent long-range shooter, missed the Creighton game because he had yet to clear quarantine protocol. He is now good to go.

Akok, a 6-9 forward who suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon tear in February, is “maybe a couple of games away from being able to make his debut, if everything continues to go well,” according to Hurley.

Of course, “a couple of games away” could mean another two weeks — or more. UConn, whose scheduled game against DePaul on Wednesday was the sixth so far this season the team has had to postpone or cancel, isn’t slated to play again until that Dec.

30 bout with DePaul at Gampel Pavilion.

After that, the Huskies’ next game isn’t until Jan. 5 at Marquette. That game kicks off an incredibly busy month of January, with nine games total, including three (at Marquette, at Butler on Jan. 9 and at DePaul Jan. 11) in the span of six days.

“Hopefully,” said Hurley, “we can get some consistency with practices and games, hopefully avoid getting COVID, and get into a rhythm of practice and games, so we can give ourselves a chance to have a good season.”

UConn didn’t practice on Wednesday, and won’t again until Christmas Day. The team will have a team dinner on Christmas Eve, and players will be able to see their visiting families. On Christmas Day, it’s back to practice (though Hurley promised he won’t yell at the players and may even sport a Santa hat).

Not exactly how most think of celebrating Christmas, but such is 2020.

“It’s tough,” Hurley noted. “It’s really hard for these guys. Even something as simple as having a game the other day, which is a brutal loss, not having your typical family that you can huddle up with and friends after a game like that, that could give you that pickme-up. You lose a game like that the other day, you go back to your dorm room — which you can’t really leave — and then get ready to not be allowed to go home for Christmas.”

Other teams in the league are allowing their players to go home for Christmas. In fact, that appears to be one of the main reasons why UConn wasn’t able to schedule a make-up league game on Dec. 27 against St. John’s.

“You’ve got to do the best you can, under the circumstances,” said Hurley. “When it’s all said and done at the end of the year, you’ve got to accept responsility for whatever type of season you have. But, it’s a heck of a challenge.”

RIM RATTLINGS

⏩ The Big East announced changes to its 2020-21 schedule on Wednesday, including make-up dates for the four league games UConn has had postponed so far.

UConn will play at DePaul on Jan. 11, host St. John’s on Jan. 18, play at Providence on Feb. 10 and at Georgetown Feb. 24.

Hurley was asked about redshirt junior point gaurd RJ Cole, who put out a tweet on Sunday night that essentially apologized for the two free throws he missed at the end of regulation that played a huge role in the Huskies’ loss to Creighton.

“RJ doesn’t owe anybody any apologies,” the coach said. “I thought that was a really smart thing to put out that night, send a message to the fan base about owning it. But I think he’s the type of guy that, in the future, he won’t feel like he’ll have to do that. Because we need him.”