UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett expects to know later in the day on Monday if he will have point guard London Perrantes for the second-ranked Cavs’ game at Wake Forest Wednesday night.
Perrantes left Virginia’s 51-41 win over Florida State Sunday night with 14:39 to go after colliding with teammate Malcolm Brogdon. Brogdon was also forced out of the game with a cut to his forehead that required three stitches to close, but Brogdon was able to return with 12:59 to go and finished out the game.
Perrantes returned to the bench with about seven minutes to go wearing a different jersey, his #32 having been covered in blood from cuts that after the game were assumed to be related to a broken nose.
Bennett said Monday in a conference call with reporters that Perrantes wanted to return, but wasn’t cleared by the team’s medical staff.
The coach said the Monday doctor visit should give an indication to the nature of Perrantes’ injury, whether or not he actually suffered a broken nose, and if there were any symptoms related to a possible concussion.
Senior forward Darion Atkins told reporters after the game Sunday night that Perrantes was going to be fitted for a mask for protection of his nose, so that does appear to be the working assumption at this stage, that there was a break, and that Perrantes would be available Wednesday.
If Perrantes is out of the lineup for the Wake Forest game, the Cavs would be forced to go to the committee approach to replacing his productivity in the lineup in a way similar to how the team has tried to make up for the absence of Anderson.
“It’s by committee. It’s got to be,” Bennett said. “Of course Malcolm has played (point) for us, Devon Hall, Marial (Shayok). It’s kind of, who’s going to be your primary ball-handler, who brings it up, how you go from there. And you’ll do it by committee.”
Bennett also provided an update on the conference call on Anderson’s status, the update basically being that there’s no update.
Anderson is in week three of a four- to six-week convalescence after surgery on a broken finger on his left (shooting) hand. There is still no word on when he will be back in the rotation.
“He’s coming along, slowly progressing. We’ll keep his rehab going,” Bennett said.
– Story by Chris Graham
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Chris Graham
