LAS VEGAS – Nate Sestina, who is back on the court this week in Las Vegas, talked about his injured wrist and season going forward.
“I went in for a layup, got bumped, and when I came down I landed like this,” Sestina said, motioning that his hand bent back toward his forearm. “It felt weird, like a shift, but it just didn’t feel right. I tried to practice again and it didn’t feel right. So I taped it and it didn’t feel right. So we got an X-ray and CT scan and they were like, ‘Yeah, it’s broken. We’ve got to get this thing fixed.’”
The injury occurred Nov. 27 and Sestina returned Nov. 18 in Kentucky’s loss to Utah. He is playing with the wrist taped, but fingers and thumb free.
“In surgery, they put a screw in there so you have to let that set up a little bit,” Sestina said. “Now they don’t want my wrist to come back too far because that’s how I hurt it. Eliminating that motion, but still being able to move my hand and my thumb is big.”
Sestina played only 10 minutes against Utah and failed to score for the first time all season. He missed his only field goal attempt and had one rebound, blocked shot and turnover.
“Nate wasn’t ready to play the minutes he played, but I put him in anyway because I thought he would fight, battle,” UK coach John Calipari said. “It’s going to take time. We’re trying to figure out what we need him to do, some things he adds to this team. One of them is 3-point shooting. But he’s good in the post, too.”
For the year, Sestina is shooting 37.5 percent and 18.2 from 3-point range. He averages 6.2 points and 6.3 rebounds.
“It varies game to game,” Sestina said. “I haven’t been shooting the ball well, but that’s not going to deter me from doing what I need for the team. If I need to be an energy guy, I’m going to be an energy guy. If I need to be physical and bump guys around, I’ll do that. If I need to shoot the ball, I’ll shoot the ball.”