Bad news out of South Bend during Thanksgiving Break. Fifth-year senior forward Tim Abromaitis tore his right ACL and is out for the season. This injury will probably end Abromaitis’ basketball career.
The injury occurred during the team’s morning practice on Nov. 25th. He is scheduled to have surgery within two weeks.
“Tim Abromaitis is one of the great stories in college athletics and represents everything that is good about college basketball,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said in a statement. “We are all disappointed for Tim because of all that he has meant to our program. He has been such a big part of our success over the past three seasons. Tim is such a special young man and an unbelievable representative of Notre Dame both on and off the basketball court.”
Abromaitis had only played in two games this season after a misunderstanding with an NCAA rule. Per the statement, the mistake was “technicality in an NCAA rule governing seasons of competition that dated back to the 2008-09 campaign when he played in the first two exhibition of his sophomore campaign and then sat out the remainder of that season.”
This is a devastating blow to the Fighting Irish who have lost their last two games, to Missouri and Georgia. They have a younger, less experienced bunch that will now have to lean more on sophomore guard Eric Atkins and junior forward Jack Cooley.
Notre Dame will play Indiana at Conseco Fieldhouse on Dec. 17th at 4:30 pm, part of the Crossroads Classic.
Last season, Abromaitis started all 34 games and averaged 15.4 points and a career-high 6.1 rebounds per game.