Hines Was Just Happy to Be There

A month and a half of waiting gave way to 41 seconds of playing at the end of a blowout Sunday against Syracuse, but Rico Hines was thrilled for that.

“It was great,” the sophomore swingman said after playing for the first time since Jan. 9 after being sidelined with a broken right foot. “Coach, he asked me early on how it felt. I said I was hurting. Then he came up to me at the very end and said, ‘You don’t want to play, right, because it’s hurting?’ I was like, ‘No, put me in. I can handle a minute.’

“It felt good just to get in the mix. It felt good just to put my uniform back on. I think I made a difference in our intensity.”

Said teammate JaRon Rush: “Maybe--because he’s always on us.”

The Bruins, unsure of how far he can come in the 2 1/2 weeks before the start of the NCAA tournament, are counting on Hines at least for his leadership. The one-time starter early in the season is only a sophomore, but he also just turned 21.

“I always kid him that he fought in the Korean War and he still has a year of eligibility left,” Coach Steve Lavin said. “He’s here in the GI bill.”

* Thursday versus Washington State, 7:30. The Bruins play the first of two final home games of the season. Saturday versus Washington.