Monday, November 26, 2012

UNC guard P.J. Hairston to miss game against Indiana

CHAPEL HILL -- P.J. Hairston, the North Carolina sophomore guard who suffered a knee injury during practice on Sunday, will not play in the Tar Heels' game at top-ranked Indiana on Tuesday.

Hairston is not traveling with the team to Indiana, and there is no timetable for his return, UNC announced in a statement on Monday night.

Hairston, UNC's third-leading scorer, suffered his injury during a dribbling drill on Sunday, teammate Dexter Strickland said. Doctors diagnosed Hairston with a mild sprain in his left knee.

Hairston's injury was especially disappointing to coach Roy Williams, who found success using a small lineup during the Maui Invitational. Hairston in that small lineup played as a power forward, though offensively he remained on the perimeter and created mismatches against larger, slower defenders.

"And so that takes out part of our opportunity to go small because he's the only guy that's worked at the four," Williams said. "And nobody else has."

Hairston's absence on Tuesday night will likely translate into more playing time for Leslie McDonald, who has averaged 8.8 points in about 15 minutes of playing time per game.

- Andrew Carter

1 comments:

Host PPH said...

I think that is goo for Indiana, P.J. Hairston is good, but UNC has other players that can perfectly replace him