UW’s Ford out with knee injury
MADISON – Injuries to D’Mitrik Trice, Kobe King and Brad Davison decimated the Wisconsin men’s basketball team in 2017-’18.
The Badgers already have suffered a potentially significant loss before the 2018-’19 opener.
Redshirt sophomore forward Aleem Ford suffered a knee injury during practice on Monday, underwent surgery Wednesday and is out indefinitely, UW officials said.
“They know it is part of the game,” UW coach Greg Gard said after practice Wednesday when asked how his players responded to the news.
“We’ve had multiple guys go through it. You look around the country and you read something every day somebody
According to a source, Ford could return in a month barring a setback during his rehabilitation.
Ford scored 19 points in a scrimmage Sunday against Iowa State and appeared to be a more versatile player than last season. He played in all 33 games as a freshman, averaged 5.8 points and 2.8 rebounds and shot a team-best 40.9% from three-point range.
“He has had a really good summer, a really good fall,” Gard said. “He played well on Sunday . ... He was very confident.”
Ford loss leaves UW thin in the frontcourt although not without options. about somewhere.”
Ethan Happ and Nate Reuvers are expected to start for UW. But with Ford out indefinitely, the next true forwards are seniors Alex Illikainen and Charlie Thomas. Thomas averaged 1.2 points and Illikainen 0.8 points per game last season.
UW could go small and use Kobe King, Brevin Pritzl or Khalil Iverson in Ford’s spot.
Iverson isn’t a perimeter threat, but Pritzl came on strong late last season and finished at 35.6% from three-point range. King has the potential to score inside or outside and can be a terrific defender.
“The nice thing is we’re early where we haven’t really established roles for the most part,” Gard said. “I don’t think this setback with Aleem is going to (change) what we think this team can become.”