Before Tuesday's practice, Washington guard Isaiah Thomas cleared up the mystery about his injured left (shooting) hand.

"The doctor said most likely it's a break," Thomas said. "He's not going to really call it what it is. He said from how it feels and how it looks, the hamate is most likely broken."

Thomas pointed to his left palm near his thumb when asked where the pain was localized.

"It happened in the Cal game when we played down there," he said. "I didn't really think of it that much. It went numb in during that game. It was off and on. Then at practice a couple of weeks ago, I really hurt it and that's when I got it checked out."

Thomas has worn a padded glove in practice and tried to wear the glove last week during the Oregon State game before taking it off.

"It was too much padding in it so when I shot it was like shooting off the palm of my hand. I had to take it off," he said. "They're making me a new one so hopefully it's thinner padding."

Thomas, Washington's second-leading scorer, said he'll likely wear the glove Thursday when the 11th-seeded Huskies play No. 6 Marquette Thursday in the first-round of the NCAA tournament in San Jose, Calif.

Thomas said the injury bothers him most when he falls to floor and uses his hand to soften the crash. He said his shot hasn't been affected when he's not wearing the glove.

Coach Lorenzo Romar didn't seem overly concerned with Thomas' injury. When asked about it he said: "It's not a concern to me at all. Actually, he's been playing pretty good with that."

IN OTHER NEWS:

--- Washington is conducting its final practice in Seattle before boarding a flight tonight for San Jose.

--- The Huskies are completing exams this week, which has complicated their preparation for Thursday's game. Justin Holiday, who had a final this week in Asian-American studies, said he's taking homework to the tournament because he has a paper due Friday.

--- The players will receive the scouting report on Marquette tonight, however, Quincy Pondexter said he's been gathering as much information as he can on Marquette.

"I looked all of their player stats," he said. "I made sure I know everything. Try to find out some tendencies. I watched them a lot this season. So we got a chance to try to catch some more games on TiVo and see what their personnel is like."

--- Romar said former UW great Jon Brockman will attend Thursday's game.

--- Several media members asked players about the team's new motto: "Don't talk about it, be about it." Thomas said it's one of the mottos the team has adopted this season.