A broken finger has dealt a hand in delaying Nate Rakestraw’s Razorback basketball season.

The true freshman shooting guard from Springdale Har-Ber is sidelined from “ six to eight weeks, ” Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said Thursday. Rakestraw had surgery Thursday to repair the pinky finger on his right hand he broke during last Tuesday’s preseason practice.

Might Rakestraw redshirt ?

“ I don’t know, ” Pelphrey said. “ We’ll wait and see. At this point, I am not anticipating that. He gives us the ability to change the scoreboard every couple of shots. ”

ADVERTISEMENT

Rakestraw was an early signee last November inked by former Arkansas coach Stan Heath.

Pelphrey, who signed forward Michael Sanchez of Springdale Har-Ber and guard Marcus Britt of Forrest City last spring and then in the summer signed freshman guard Levan Pastatsia of the former Russian province of Georgia, took a liking to the signee he inherited. Especially when Rakestraw shed 25 pounds to get quicker for the uptempo game Pelphrey espouses offensively and defensively.

“ Nate spent all summer here, ” Pelphrey said. “ He’s put in a lot of hard work, but this is life. His attitude was very good. I think Nate is going to be a fast healer. ”

Rakestraw likely will miss all games in November (the season officially starts Nov. 9 versus Wofford ) and probably will remain sidelined well into December.

“ He was getting better, ” Pelphrey said. “ He was part of our limited guard depth already. So that’s a big blow to us. We are going to get him back, but it’s going to take some time.

“ We need him to get back. Nate spent all summer here. He’s put in a lot of hard work, but this is life. His attitude was very good yesterday. I think Nate is going to be a fast healer. ”

While the Hogs in numbers are short on guards, they seem almost top-heavy with big men.

It’s a big crew with 7-foot senior center Steven Hill plus three listed at 6-10 (seniors Darian Townes and Vincent Hunter and sophomore Michael Washington ) plus two more at 6-8 (senior Charles Thomas and freshman forward Sanchez ).

So with Pelphrey wanting to press defensively and run the floor offensively, is all that size a help or a hindrance ?

“ On the defensive side, I think it’s good, ” Pelphrey said. “ Especially halfcourt. I don’t know about extending the floor because of guard depth — unless you try putting one of those guys at the small forward spot.

“ You want to extend it backcourt, be disruptive, take it away, shrink the clock. But in the halfcourt you want to shrink the floor, give up no layups, no small shots. So the more guys you have like that, the more difficult it is to score. ”

What about offensively ?

“ Offensively, hopefully they can be a strength for us, ” Pelphrey said. “ We can jam it inside and foul trouble won’t hurt us if we can just bring everybody else in. You would hope offensive rebounding would be a strength. If you offensive rebound well, you hopefully can get to the free throw line a good number of times and usually score quite a few points. ”

Pelphrey said he wants Hill, a defensive lynchpin as a shot-blocker, upping his scoring from last year’s 6. 2 average into double figures but said Hill helps an offense even when he doesn’t score.

“ Steve is a great, great screener from the offensive side, ” Pelphrey said. “ Usually for that spot, centers don’t do well away from the basket. But you bring him away from the basket, you are forcing a guy to come out there and play two people and help. Steve does have speed to move away from guys. ”

Since 6, 200 attended their opening practice last Friday night, the Razorbacks have had six workouts (not counting Thursday’s practice ) including two-a-days last Saturday and Sunday.

“ Four and a half were good and one and a half not so good, ” Pelphrey said before Thursday’s workout.

On Oct. 26, the night before the Razorbacks football team’s homecoming game against Florida International, Pelphrey’s Razorbacks will play a 7 p. m. Red-White intrasquad game at Walton Arena.

The Hogs also have exhibition games on tap at Walton Nov. 2 with West Florida and Nov. 6 against Campellsville before the Nov. 9 opener versus Wofford at Walton.