UConn forward Nik Khamenia needs surgery on his injured his left foot and is expected to miss several weeks, coach Dan Hurley said Thursday.
“Nik will have surgery in the coming days and is expected to
make a full recovery. He will be reevaluated in 6-8 weeks,” Hurley said in a statement on social media.
Khamenia, a Duke transfer, is the third-leading scorer for the fourth-ranked Huskies. He is averaging 10.7 points on 62% shooting and is second on the team with six 3-pointers.
He was hurt in Monday's 83-41 win over Wagner.
“We’ve been through it, obviously, in this program,” Hurley said after that game. “I just look back at last year. We had the issues with Tarris (Reed) in the early part of the year.”
Reed missed five games, including a win at Kansas and a home loss to Arizona.
UConn plays Ohio State on Friday in Hartford, Connecticut, and has upcoming games against No. 12 Arizona and No. 2 Duke. Khamenia will also likely miss games against No. 3 Illinois and No. 15 Kansas.
Freshmen Colben Landrew and Yegor Amosov will see more playing time while Khamenia is sidelined.
“He (Landrew) was already playing starter’s minutes,” Hurley said. “If Nik’s not available for this nonconference slate, people like him and Yegor are going to now be thrust into bigger roles.”
___
Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full men’s basketball coverage here.
