There’s a first time for everything, and for Rawle Alkins, this particular first time couldn’t have come at a worse time.
The Arizona Wildcats were struggling early on against Saint Mary’s, and to add to the misery, Alkins came off the court holding his hand, immediately going back to the locker room to get x-rays on his injured right index finger.
But the freshman from Brooklyn would come back into the game despite suffering a fracture and dislocation, and helped carry the team to another Sweet Sixteen.
And to top it all off, this was the first time that Alkins has suffered an injury of any kind.