Senior center Assane Sene (Saint-Louis, Senegal) of the Virginia men's basketball team is expected to be out approximately six weeks after undergoing surgery on his right ankle Friday (Jan. 20).
The 7-0 Sene injured the ankle late in the first half of the Cavaliers' victory over Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Thursday (Jan. 19). X-rays on Friday showed a fracture and Sene underwent surgery.
"Assane is a senior and an integral part of our team," said Virginia head coach Tony Bennett. "In all my years of coaching, he is one of the most team-first players I've been around. I know he'll do whatever he can from a rehabilitation standpoint to try and return to action before the end of the season."
Sene has started all 17 games for Virginia this season. He is averaging 4.9 points and 3.7 rebounds a game and leads the team in blocked shots with 15. He is tied for sixth on Virginia's career list for blocked shots with 108.
This puts him on pace for a return to action in the March 5th season finale against Maryland. Basically, we'll be getting the big man back for the postseason.
I really feel horrible for Zu. He worked so freaking hard to get to this point, and then to have his senior season cut in half like this. Very disappointing for the young man. Here's hoping he comes back with a vengeance in six weeks.
Meanwhile, this forces Akil Mitchell and Darion Atkins to step up. That could help us come tourney time, and it will DEFINITELY help us next year, when those two guys are our only returning bigs. Getting extended PT this season will help to accelerate their development.
I hate seeing silver lining with something like this, but there it is.
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| Godspeed in your recovery, big fella. |
I hate James Johnson even more now.
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