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Domantas Sabonis exits Gonzaga’s exhibition win after nasty fall

Josh Oglesby, Domantas Sabonis

Josh Oglesby, Domantas Sabonis

AP

Gonzaga earned a blowout win over Eastern Oregon on Saturday night in an exhibition game, but the team lost sophomore center Domantas Sabonis in the first half after he took a hard fall on his back.

According to a report from Jim Meehan of The Spokesman-Review, Sabonis landed on the small of his back early in the first half. The sophomore tried to return to action later, but showed signs of discomfort:

“He just came down on it (lower back) really hard,” coach Mark Few said. “At this point, I have to sit down and talk to the trainer and we’ll have to see how bad it is. It was giving him some problems when he went back out and tried to play.”

Gonzaga’s rotation is essentially nine deep, counting Sabonis, one of the team’s four bigs. When the 6-foot-11 sophomore headed to the bench following his brief return, he chatted with Few for a few seconds, then swung a towel in frustration. He sat on the bench with a heat pad on his back/hip, rising slowly from his seat during timeouts. He’s expected to see a doctor Sunday.


While it doesn’t seem like Sabonis hurt anything that badly if he tried to play more in a meaningless game, it does give Gonzaga some concerns about how he’ll look in the season opener against Pitt. That’s because the game is being played in Okinawa, Japan as part of the Armed Forces Classic. Gonzaga leaves for Japan on Tuesday, which means the 6-foot-11 Sabonis will have to endure about 18 hours on a plane with a bad back. It’s hard enough for someone that size to be on a flight that long, let alone with an ailing back. Will Sabonis be healthy enough to be a major factor in that game?

Besides Sabonis going down with injury, Gonzaga has to be concerned about its lack of perimeter shooting in the win. The Zags were only 5-for-31 from 3-point range and didn’t shoot particularly well overall. Senior Kyle Wiltjer had a huge outing with 33 points and 14 rebounds, but Gonzaga is going to need more from their backcourt to be an elite team this season.