U.'s Althoff undergoes surgery for broken

The already-thin Utah basketball team will be even more short-handed when the season begins after sophomore center Nate Althoff broke his finger in practice.

The 6-foot-11 Althoff, a possible starter to replace Michael Doleac, underwent surgery Tuesday evening to have a pin inserted in the baby finger of his right hand, said basketball trainer Gerald Fischer.Althoff will be out of action for two weeks, which means he will miss exhibition games Friday and Monday as well as games against the Nov. 14 Azusa Pacific and Nov. 18 Utah State games.

According to Fischer, the injury is similar to the one suffered by Utah quarterback Darnell Arceneux, only on a different finger. Althoff already had shoulder surgery this summer and sat out of last week's "Night With the Runnin' Utes" because the shoulder was too sore.

Althoff's injury puts the Utes down to 10 healthy players. The Utes only have 11 scholarship players because transfer Shane Willis suffered a serious knee injury and forward Greg Barratt decided to transfer to Utah Valley State College.

Last year, Althoff played in 17 games, averaging 1.8 points and 1.8 rebounds.