California has an unexpected hole in its starting lineup today after senior point guard Tyrone Wallace broke his hand for the second time this season days before the Golden Bears’ NCAA Tournament game. The injury came in a non-contact drill when Wallace, the team’s lone senior, got his hand caught in a teammate’s jersey, head coach Cuonzo Martin said during a Thursday news conference. With the importance of veteran guard play in the NCAA Tournament, the injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for the #4 seed in the South Region. But at least they’ve already played five games without Wallace this season. The Bears went 3-2 in those games, losing both ends of the Pac-12’s difficult Utah/Colorado road trip in late January and winning home games against Stanford, Arizona and Arizona State with junior Sam Singer as their point guard.
“Everybody loses someone at some level, injuries, stuff happens. You have 13 scholarships. So there’s no excuses, it’s part of the game,” Martin said. “We won games with Sam at our point. I’m not worried at all. Sam will do a great job at the point guard position and whoever backs him up will do well as well.” But there’s a big difference between home conference games in January and NCAA Tournament games in March, and there’s just as big a difference between Wallace and Singer. Wallace leads Cal with 32.2 minutes, 15.3 points, 4.4 assists and 1.0 steal per game, and averages 5.4 rebounds as well. Singer, who has played in every game, averages 3.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists in just under 20 minutes per contest.
“He averaged 15, 5, and 5, so we’re going to have to pick up the slack in all those areas,” junior guard Jordan Mathews said. “He’s a big time rebounding guard, scores in a lot of ways. But I think we’re a deep team, relatively experienced team with the juniors we have, so I think we’ll be able to pick up what Tyrone left. It’s unfortunate, we’ll miss him a lot, but we have to win this ball game.” Transitioning from a four-year starter to a career reserve with no time to adjust will be Cal’s biggest on-court challenge at 11:00 AM at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena versus #13 Hawaii. Whether the Bears can fill Wallace’s production will determine if they will play again Sunday.