Rainmen's Upshaw looking to make his mark
Rookie focused in return from elbow injury
HALFWAY THROUGH HIS FIRST YEAR as a professional, Christian (T-Bear) Upshaw has played a grand total of 17 minutes with the Halifax Rainmen.
Hurt in the Rainmen’s season opener, the rookie point guard from Halifax missed the next 14 games rehabbing an elbow injury and filling the role of cheerleader as his teammates surged into second place in the National Basketball League of Canada.
Back in the lineup now since Jan. 5, he’s faced with the same steep learning curve, the same adjustments, the same transitions other first-year players dealt with weeks ago. But the former star at St. Francis Xavier University isn’t sitting around moping about his misfortune.
"You just gotta put that stuff behind you and focus on what’s coming up next," Upshaw said after Tuesday’s practice at Mount Saint Vincent University.
"The stuff that you missed, it’s pretty frustrating, but I can’t really dwell on it. I’ve just gotta be able to be ready for what comes next."
A two-time Atlantic university conference MVP, Upshaw completed five years with the X-Men as the school’s second all-time leading scorer with 1,586 points, the ninth-best total in AUS history. He earned a spot on the Halifax roster in training camp and became the first Nova Scotian since 2007-08 to suit up with the Rainmen for a regular-season game when they travelled to London for a meeting with the Lightning on Nov. 3.
His debut was short and anything but sweet.
Summoned from the bench early in the second quarter, his shift was less than three minutes old when he was knocked to the floor by then-Lightning guard Nick Lother. The impact broke a bone in his elbow, saddling the 25-year-old with the first significant injury of his lifetime.
"It was really frustrating but I just had to persevere through it, go through therapy, follow the steps," said the six-foot Upshaw, who averaged 18.1 points per game last year in his final campaign with St. F.X.
He made his return Jan. 5 at home against Oshawa, playing five minutes. He didn’t see the floor in London two nights later and played only 72 seconds against Moncton last Tuesday. But he gave Metro Centre fans a glimpse of his explosiveness when he dropped three-pointers on consecutive possessions in the third quarter of Saturday’s win over the Saint John Mill Rats, finishing with seven points on 2-of-4 shooting.
"For him right now, he’s like in pre-season and he knows that," Halifax coach Josep (Pep) Claros said.
"Christian helped us the last game with eight really good minutes, especially on offence. We need more on defence from him but he needs time and practice. He’s an intelligent player, he understands his role and he’ll help us in some way or another."
Upshaw said he’s playing at about 85 or 90 per cent right now and realizes he has to increase his stamina to maintain the full-court defensive pressure that Claros likes to employ.
He also needs to continue his learning process at the professional level while trying to find playing time in a talented and versatile backcourt that also includes Taliek Brown, Joey Haywood, Chris Hagan and Darrin Dorsey.
"Coach has a really good rotation, guys go in and out pretty fast, so I don’t have no problem with minutes or anything," he said. "Basically I’ve just gotta go out there and defend hard and knock down open shots and I should be fine."
The Rainmen, 14-5, are two games out of first place going into another showdown with the league-leading Lightning on Thursday night in London. The team’s expectations are high and Upshaw is looking forward to making his mark in the second half of the season on a balanced squad that boasts the league’s most potent offence.
"My goal is to come in and defend," he said of his role. "I have to defend and I have to knock down open shots. We’ve got a ton of scorers on this team but one of the things we really need to do as a team is really defend and shut guys down."
RAINMEN THIS WEEK
Thursday: Halifax at London, 8 p.m.
Saturday: Quebec at Halifax, 7 p.m.
Sunday: Summerside at Halifax, 2 p.m.
RAINDROPS:
•Halifax centre Abdullahi Kuso was activated Tuesday and practised for the first time since tearing a tendon in his right pinkie finger on Dec. 10
•The Rainmen are winless in three starts against the Lightning. They’re 2-0 against the Kebs and 3-0 against the Storm, whom they’ll play three times in a span of seven days
•Thursday’s contest begins a stretch during which Halifax has seven games in 12 days
•The Rainmen have won nine straight at home