VCU’s Saintil facing surgery

Virginia Commonwealth sophomore forward Terrance Saintil "most likely" will have surgery this week to repair ligament damage in his right thumb and could miss two months, VCU coach Shaka Smart said.

Saintil injured his thumb in practice this past weekend and saw a hand specialist Tuesday.

"Probably the best thing for him to do is to have surgery," Smart said. "It's still unclear what the doctors want to do. It's possible he can keep playing, but I think with the injury being what it is, I don't know how effective he can be. Obviously, without a healthy thumb, it's hard to function because it's his shooting hand."

Saintil, who's 6-8, 240 pounds, averaged 1.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 7.7 minutes last year as a freshman. He is expected to play a bigger role in the Rams' frontcourt this season.

If Saintil has surgery, VCU will be thin up front for the first semester (eight games). The Rams have three other players taller than 6-5: 6-11 junior Larry Sanders, 6-8 senior Kirill Pishchalnikov and 6-8 freshman David Hinton. Jamie Skeen, a 6-9 transfer from Wake Forest, becomes eligible after the first semester.

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