UH's Savovic practices for first time since injuring back
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
TULSA, Okla. — Slowly but surely, Predrag Savovic's back is making its way back to normal.
Savovic practiced with the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team yesterday for the first time in five days.
The 6-foot-6 senior guard suffered muscle spasms in his lower back in the second half of a loss at Nevada Thursday. He sat out Saturday's victory at Fresno State, and had missed every practice until yesterday.
"It still hurts, but I have to do what I have to do," said Savovic, UH's leading scorer with 19.4 points per game. "It's getting better and better every day, so I feel good about playing (tomorrow)."
The 'Bows will open play in the Williams Western Athletic Conference Tournament tomorrow with a quarterfinal game against San Jose State at 8 a.m. (Hawai'i time).
Savovic practiced only in short spurts yesterday, but he did participate in full-speed half-court drills. He shot the basketball normally, and even got himself up off the court without any assistance after an accidental collision with teammate Tony Akpan.
"He made rapid improvement yesterday and then again today," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "If he makes that much more progress tomorrow, he'll be back."
Wallace said he would like Savovic to start against San Jose State, if healthy.
"He looked good today," Wallace said. "He'll be better if his back doesn't tighten up."
Savovic was selected to the All-WAC first team for the second consecutive season earlier this week. In yesterday's edition of the Tulsa World, Savovic was picked as the WAC Player of the Year in an informal poll of the conference coaches.
• More honors: Savovic was also named to the Verizon Academic All-America third team yesterday.
Savovic, who is from Hercg Novi, Yugoslavia, maintains a 3.25 grade point average as a double-major in international business and finance.
• More pub: A reporter and photographer from USA Today followed the 'Bows the past two days.
A feature article on Hawai'i is scheduled to appear in the sports section of the national newspaper either tomorrow or Friday.
• Lucky meal: The 'Bows continued their road tradition of eating at a Golden Corral restaurant yesterday.
It started in Tulsa last year, when the 'Bows ate their pregame meals at Golden Corral and proceeded to win the WAC Tournament with three victories in as many nights. This season, the UH coaching staff has found a Golden Corral in five of the nine cities on the WAC road. The restaurant offers an all-you-can-eat American buffet for around $8.
Since discovering the Golden Corral last season, Hawai'i is 8-1 when eating its pregame meal there, with the lone loss coming to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament last season.
This year, Hawai'i is 5-0 after eating at a Golden Corral. Even though the 'Bows are scheduled to play at noon (Tulsa time) tomorrow, they plan to eat at the Golden Corral's breakfast buffet.
• Driving in style: Every visiting coach in the WAC was offered a rental car for this week. Wallace chose a stylish Chrysler PT Cruiser.
"It's fun; I wouldn't mind having one of my own," he said.
