Gonzaga guard Luka Krajnovic breaks hand during shootaround, could miss 4-6 weeks

Dec. 15—Gonzaga's thin backcourt took another hit in the days leading up to Friday's nonconference game against UConn at Climate Pledge Arena.

Freshman guard Luka Krajnovic expects to miss at least a month and potentially up to six weeks, with a broken left hand, he told The Spokesman-Review during pregame warmups in Seattle Friday evening.

The guard wore sweatpants and had his left hand wrapped in athletic tape when the Bulldogs took the floor for warmups ahead of a top-10 matchup against the Huskies.

Krajnovic, who played 21 minutes and scored three points during Monday's 78-40 win over Mississippi Valley State, broke his hand during a non-contact shootaround hours before tipoff against UConn Friday afternoon, Gonzaga coach Mark Few confirmed to reporters.

"It just happened this afternoon, so I've got nothing for you there," Few said in a postgame press conference after GU's 76-63 loss to UConn. "... It just happened this afternoon. It's going to be awhile. Broke his hand in a non-contact shootaround. It's kind of a tough break."

The injury to Krajnovic impacts Gonzaga's overall depth in the backcourt, but starting guards Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard had been playing the bulk of the minutes at the position this season, both averaging 33 minutes per game. Hickman and Nembhard didn't come off the floor in games against Washington and UCLA, and both played at least 36 minutes versus Yale, Purdue and USC.

A native of Zagreb, Croatia, Krajnovic appeared in six of 10 nonconference games, averaging just 11 minutes in those contests. He played 21 minutes in blowout wins against Eastern Oregon, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Mississippi Valley State, but 5 minutes or fewer against Yale, Purdue and Syracuse.

A preseason ACL injury to Eastern Washington transfer Steele Venters moved freshman guard/wing Dusty Stromer into the starting lineup, leaving Krajnovic as the only scholarship guard on Mark Few's bench.

With Krajnovic out of the mix, the only other guards on Gonzaga's roster are junior walk-on Joe Few — the son of the Bulldogs' head coach — and freshman walk-on Joaquim ArauzMoore.