White day-to-day after stinger

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Iowa forward Aaron White stood before reporters Saturday afternoon and asked a simple question that lacked any measure of self-pity.

'Why couldn't it have happened later after maybe we were winning by a little bit?” White asked. 'It's just a tough night.”

White suffered a stinger injury during a collision with Purdue guard Kendall Stephens early in the first half at Mackey Arena. White felt a shot of pain down his neck and side and walked over to the gymnasium corner with 15 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first half. White settled on the bench and re-entered the game later in the half, but he played just three more minutes and was out for good with 9:29 left in the first half. Iowa lost 67-63.

'I tried to go back in after it happened, thinking if I got back loose it would loosen up and I could help the team,” White said. 'But when I reached for the ball, I had a popping feeling, a shooting feeling down my neck.”

Late in the first half, White walked to the Iowa locker room and trainers pushed on his right shoulder to determine if there was a break or separation. When it wasn't considered a break, he asked for a shot to numb the pain. Purdue's doctor declined.

'It's basically when you've got nerves, you can't start messing with that,” White said. 'You don't know what can happen. There's too many things that can go wrong. So they when they said it's not going to feel better by (Saturday night), and that's pretty much when I stopped listening.”

According to www.sportsinjuryadvice.com, a stinger is defined as 'temporary or acute pain that causes a burning or shocking sensation that starts in the head and runs down into the shoulder and in some instances travels down into the arm.”

The injury is most associated with football because of the helmet-to-helmet collisions. Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery could not recall another stinger incident in basketball.

'At first I thought it was a shoulder separation, which we see those a lot in basketball,” McCaffery said. 'He was in a lot of discomfort. If that kid could have come back in the game, he's coming back in the game. I think it's obviously good that we don't play until next Saturday. That will give him the best shot.”

White scored four points and knocked down both of his shots. It tore him up to not be able to finish the game. He said he thinks he'll be able to play next Saturday against Wisconsin.

'Usually I'd tell you I don't want to wait a week, but I think I do,” White said. 'Just because I don't think I could go if it was a two-day prep.”

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