Gonzaga will be without reserve guard Geno Crandall for the next four-to-six weeks with a fracture in his right hand.
According to a report from Jim Meehan of the Spokesman-Review, Crandall suffered the injury in his hand during Sunday’s practice. The 6-foot-3 Crandall is a graduate transfer from North Dakota who was supposed to help take some minutes from senior starter Josh Perkins.
Crandall has averaged 18.2 minutes per game so far this season, as he’s putting up 5.0 points, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Although Crandall had a positive game against Texas A&M with 13 points in 23 minutes, he has struggled in other games to find his scoring touch. A double-figure scorer his first three seasons in college, Crandall is only shooting 30 percent from the field to start the season.
While this injury won’t significantly damage No. 1 Gonzaga, this will impact Perkins and the amount of minutes he could log. We could see the Zags experiment with some unique options at lead guard. Unfortunately for Gonzaga, they’re about to embark on a difficult four-game stretch that includes games against Washington, Creighton, No. 6 Tennessee and No. 11 North Carolina in the next three weeks.
As long as Gonzaga is able to ride their veteran starters for extended minutes, Crandall’s injury should be something they can withstand for a short period of time.