DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — Miami University's basketball team will be without one of its best players for "an awfully long time."

Senior point guard Kenny Hayes will undergo surgery on his injured right wrist and will be out indefinitely.

"I think the surgery will be a little after the new year," Miami coach Coles said Monday, Dec. 29.

When asked if Hayes will be able to return this season, the coach said, "I don't know. I know he'll be out an awfully long time."

If Hayes misses the rest of the season, he could be eligible for a medical redshirt.

Heading into Miami's game at Northwestern State tonight, Hayes is the team's second-leading scorer (13.9 points per game), and he leads the RedHawks in assists (3.8 per game) and 3-point shooting (53.3 percent).

The 6-foot guard, a transfer from Cincinnati State Community College who started 32 games and averaged 12.1 points in his first season at Miami last year, already has missed two games with the injury.

Hayes injured his wrist during practice Dec. 8.

"He couldn't possibly play with this injury," Coles said. "It is a big blow. Kenny's a very good player and a huge part of our team.

"You have to move on when you have an injury," he continued. "Our guys will have to play better. You have to make up for it some kind of way, and good teams usually do. But it is a tremendous loss."

Until now, the most costly injury suffered by a RedHawks player during Coles' 13-year tenure at Miami involved Wally Szczerbiak, who missed eight games during his junior season in 1997-98. He averaged 24.4 points that season.

Hayes will be replaced by senior Carl Richburg and freshman Kramer Soderberg, who have shared playing time at point guard in Hayes' absence.

Hayes is one of two RedHawks on the injured list. The other is 6-4 sophomore Antonio Ballard, who has missed four games after hurting his right hand during practice a few days before Hayes suffered his injury.

"I think you'll see him within about our third game coming up, maybe the fourth game, against Ohio (Jan. 14 in Oxford)," Coles said of Ballard, who averages 4.0 points and 5.3 rebounds.

"We've missed him since he's been out," the Miami coach said. "He's our best guy as far as playing both ends of the court, really better than anyone else. We'll be glad to get him back.

"Now we're faced with a very tough game," Coles said of tonight's contest. "This team is waiting on us. They feel like they didn't play a very good game at our place. This feels like a certain ambush."

Miami beat Northwestern State 93-66 on Dec. 6.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.