Cal Basketball: Grant Anticevich All Smiles Again After December Appendectomy

Senior from Australia missed four games but is grateful the experience went smoothly

It’s mostly sunny with a forecast high of 61 degrees today in Boulder, Colorado, where the Cal basketball team is preparing for its Thursday game against the Colorado Buffaloes.

The pleasant winter weather in the Rockies isn’t the only reason Grant Anticevich is smiling these days.

The senior forward from Sydney, Australia is healthy and back on the court again after an ordeal last month that landed him in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy.

Anticevich missed four games before making his return vs. Washington State last Thursday, when he scored nine points in 20 minutes off the bench. He started against Washington two days later, contributing four points, six rebounds and five assists to the Bears’ 84-78 victory.

Anticevich (whose name is correctly pronounced: An-TISS-uh-vitch), joined me Wednesday morning on a Zoom call to talk about what he went through last month.

He said he began experiencing stomach pain on Tuesday, Dec. 15 but thought it was probably food poisoning.

It was severe enough that he didn’t practice for two days, and on Wednesday the discomfort grew and became more consistent.

“I was in a fair amount of pain. I thought it was a lot more than it should be just for a stomach bug,” he said.

So at the urging of his roommate, fellow Australian Kuany Kuany, Anticevich headed to the hospital. Kuany arranged an Uber ride and stayed with his teammate in the waiting area at the hospital while Anticevich underwent tests.

Those tests confirmed his appendix needed removing.

Anticevich called Cal’s athletic training and his parents, looping in everyone who needed to know what was going on.

His parents got the news a half a world away, unable to do more than offer moral support. “They were obviously very stressed. Worried not to be able to be with me.”

The surgery didn’t happen until late Thursday night, after doctors had given antibiotics to stem potential infection.

The procedure, which lasted into the Friday early-morning hours, went well. Anticevich, who never before had undergone any kind of surgery, called it “an interesting experience.”

Mostly, he was grateful that he listened to Kuany’s suggestion that they get to the hospital. “If I let it drag on an extra day or two it might have been a lot worse,” he said.

Anticevich spent four or five days at the hospital before Trent Johnson, who serves as coach Mark Fox’s director of player development, drove him home.

Anticevich, who lost 15 pounds as a result of the surgery and recovery, immediately attended Cal’s practice the day he was discharged, as a spectator.

“From that point on was just anxious to get back on the court,” he said.

Anticevich is grateful to all those who got him through the ordeal, starting with Kuany.

“Obviously the coaches were really stressing and looking after me,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for more. They took as best care of me as anyone could hope for.”

.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo