Lorenzo Romar’s Washington Huskies will be without the services of senior center Malik Dime for four to five weeks due to a pinkie finger that fractured in the final minutes of last Saturday’s 87-61 victory over California at Alaska Airlines Arena. This is potentially a devastating injury for UW, as the 6-foot-9 Dime has 39 blocked shots (second in the Pac-12) and averages 4.9 rebounds per game.
Dime, whose injury is the first serious health setback sustained by the Huskies this season, is expected to return in early-to-mid February.
“It’s one of those situations where he would be in too much pain,” Romar said. “He could probably injure someone else because he would have to be casted to play. A regular soft splint wouldn’t protect it. If there was a way around it, we would do it. Everything was explored.”
With Dime sidelined, the Huskies will turn to 6-11 freshman Sam Timmins and 6-9 junior Matthew Atewe. Reserve forward Devenir Duruisseau, a 6-8 sophomore, also will see increased minutes.
The Huskies (8-7 overall, 1-2 Pac-12) are headed to the Bay Area, where they will play California (11-5, 2-2) Thursday and Stanford (8-8, 0-4) Saturday.
