The Huskies were down a man today at practice.

Kevin Ollie sustained a freak injury in practice yesterday. Apparently, he was stretching out with one of those elastic bands prior to practice when it slipped off his foot and hit his right eye. Ollie had bleeding in his eye and is now wearing a protective eye patch. He's been prescribed bed rest, and his availability on the bench for tomorrow's season-opener is up in the air.

In fact, there's even a question of whether he'd be able to make the flight out to Hawaii in 10 days due to the cabin pressure in the plane.

The Huskies have contacted the proper channels, and Glen Miller will scoot over and serve as an assistant during Ollie's absence.

***Elsewhere: UConn's starting lineup tomorrow night is likely to be the same as in Sunday's exhibition vs. Bridgeport, according to Jim Calhoun: Niels Giffey, Tyler Olander, Donnell Beverly, Kemba Walker and Charles Okwandu. You might see Alex Oriakhi in the starting five rather than Okwandu, however.

"We'll probably find out in practice today," Oriakhi noted. "If you're on Kemba's team, you're in the starting lineup."

***Stony Brook is expected to challenge for the America East title this season, but the Sea Wolves probably would be giving UConn more of a challenge tomorrow night if they were healthy.

Instead, two of their best players are out with knee injuries. Star junior wing Tommy Brenton, who averaged 7.6 points and 9.7 rebounds per game last year, is out indefinitely. Sophomore point guard Marcus Rouse (4.4 ppg last year) is out for the first month of the season.