The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team had a Christmas exchange of injured players yesterday.

Julian Sensley returned to practice with the Rainbow Warriors yesterday, but Chris Botez missed practice because of an injury near his ribs.

The 'Bows practiced on Christmas Day because they are preparing to host North Carolina A&T tomorrow night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"It's one of those years, guys keep going down," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "But this team is showing that it can be a special team. One guy goes out, somebody else comes in to pick up the slack."

Botez, a reserve center, was diagnosed with costochondritis, which is an inflammation of the muscles in the rib cage. The injury was discovered after he complained of breathing problems yesterday morning.

"It's always scary with big guys when you think it might be the heart or something like that," Wallace said. "He'll do some more tests, and we'll see how he is (tomorrow)."

Botez will be kept out of practice again today, and is questionable for tomorrow's game. The 7-foot senior is Hawai'i's top reserve among the frontcourt players. He is averaging 3.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Sensley returned to practice after missing Friday's game against Northwestern State because of a strained right Achilles. "It's still a little sore, but I'm ready to go," he said.

Even with Sensley there, the 'Bows had only nine players available for practice yesterday.

Junior guard "Little Matt" Gibson is still sidelined because he is recovering from a staph infection near his chest.

The 'Bows had nine players available for the Northwestern State game, and eight of them played in an 80-76 victory. True freshmen Hiram Thompson and Dominic Waters got extended minutes for the first time this season.

"We'll do the same thing, plug guys in and go," Wallace said. "Getting Julian back is big because he can play more than one position."

If Botez can't play tomorrow, Sensley, center Ahmet Gueye and forward "Big Matt" Gipson will be the only frontcourt players available. If any of them gets in foul trouble, 6-6 Matt Lojeski and 6-3 Deonte Tatum can move to small forward.

"We have rotations to make it work," Wallace said. "That's what this team is going to have to do for the rest of the year because we don't have as many guys as we did in the past."

The 'Bows will have only 10 scholarship players on the roster for the rest of this season. The NCAA maximum is 13, but Milos Zivanovic quit last week, Bobby Nash is out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, and transfer Stephen Verwers cannot play until next season.

"It seems like things are going bad, but we're fine," Sensley said. "And if we're going to have guys hurt, we rather have it now than at the end of the year."

AGGIES STRUGGLING SO FAR

North Carolina A&T will bring an 0-8 record and lots of frequent flyer miles to Hawai'i. Six of the Aggies' losses have been on the road, including Miami, Virginia Tech, Nebraska and USC.

"Those are almost impossible places for anybody to win," Wallace said. "There's never a good time to play a team like that because they're looking to break out against you."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.