Fleming expects to miss some time

Perhaps it was too much to ask that Hawaii have a fully stocked unit with which to do battle in the heart of the Big West season.

Guard Isaac Fleming said after Monday’s late-night practice that he won’t make this week’s road trip to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly as he recovers from the right ankle sprain he suffered against Long Beach State on Saturday.

The injury setback to one of UH’s main rotation players (11.2 ppg) comes just as the Rainbow Warriors got Aaron Valdes healthy from the turf-toe injury.

UH departs for California at noon on Tuesday.

“I’m staying back to get extra treatment, real treatment, more so that I can come back faster,” Fleming said. “Not (going on) this trip at all. Staying back to get myself right and just to get healthy. My goal is to come back for the Irvine game (next week).”

Fleming was clearly hampered by the injury in his 17 minutes of play against LBSU and went scoreless for the first time in his sophomore season, and second time in his career. He watched Monday’s practice from the side on crutches. He said it was a “mid-high sprain, same injury I had last year in conference play. Then I came back for tournament play, and I was like 75 percent in that.

“It was the first 7, 8 minutes of the game. We (a Long Beach player and I) were both going for a loose ball. My ankle turned, twisted on me and he fell on it. … I think it was (Travis) Hammonds. After that it was just bad.

“I tried to (give it a go), but it was just bad. It was hurting too much. The next day it swelled up, I couldn’t even walk on it. (Athletic trainer) Jay Goo been getting me right, so I can put a little pressure on it now, but I don’t know when I’ll return.

“It’s frustrating. I’m a competitive guy and I like competing,” Fleming said. “That loss hurt on Saturday and knowing the next day that I had a sprained ankle and wouldn’t be back right away, it was even more devastating. So, I’ve just been praying and have been taking the recovery slow.”