BYU star striker Yoeli Childs will be set aside for the big clash of the West Coast Conference on Thursday in Saint Mary’s due to an open dislocation of his right index finger.
The team plays home games in the McKeon Hall, capacity 3,500; It is one of the smallest gyms of the WCC. The current coach is Randy Bennett, who is the all-time winning leader of the school. The Gaels have appeared in ten NCAA tournaments. Their two significant competitors are the San Francisco Dons and the Santa Clara Broncos, two other Catholic schools in the San Francisco Bay region situated in the WCC.
Childs got the injury to his firing hand on Tuesday’s practice. He might be away for a week or two, depending on how it heals, said team spokesperson Kyle Chilton. Although he won’t play, Childs made the trip to Moraga with his teammates. After Tuesday’s practice, coach Mark Pope told reporters that Childs would be “fine,” but he was not aware of the seriousness of the injury, according to Chilton.
Childs missed the first nine playoffs of the spell due to a NCAA suspension. Ever since his arrival, he averaged 20.9 points and 10.1 rebounds and came in the 10 best leaders in the history of the school.
In Childs’ first game in Utah, he scored 29 points and shot down seven rebounds. On the other hand, he suffered from leg cramps in the second half, forcing him to lose the last minutes of regulation and the extra time period in a 102-95 setback.
With Childs unavailablity on Thursday, attacker Kolby Lee returned to the starting lineup. Pope determined to go with the similar original lineup that the Cougars had throughout the first nine games without Childs.
