VCU’s Saintil may miss 2 months with thumb injury

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 during 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.