Kansas State basketball dealing with yet another injured starter ahead of KU game
The Kansas State men’s basketball team will be without one of its starting guards when it faces the Kansas Jayhawks on Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
DaJuan Gordon, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Chicago, is expected to miss at least a few games while he recovers from a foot injury that he sustained over the weekend against Texas A&M when teammate Kaosi Ezeagu fell on him awkwardly as they fought for rebounding position under the basket.
A season already filled with injuries continues for the Wildcats.
How long will Gordon be sidelined? For now, that remains a mystery. After undergoing X-rays on his left foot on Saturday, K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber said there was no evidence of a fracture. That’s the good news.
But the injury also prevented Gordon from walking off the basketball court under his own power at Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday. He’s dealing with more than an ordinary sprain.
“It’s not anything severe,” Weber said, “but definitely it’s going to be probably longer than quicker to recovery. But it was it was not a fracture, which was our first fear. Knowing him ... He’s got a great drive, a good pain tolerance. He already put in a lot of time with (our trainer) yesterday and this morning. He wants sooner than later. We’ll just have to see how he responds.”
Gordon injured his right foot earlier this season and was able to play a week later. So there is hope he could return to the court quicker than expected.
Expect the Wildcats to lean on Selton Miguel and Luke Kasubke — a pair of other freshmen guards — in his absence. Weber said Miguel will start in his place against KU, and Kasubke would come off the bench.
Gordon has averaged 9.3 points and 5.8 rebounds in 18 games this season.
The Wildcats played admirably without him after he left the Texas A&M game on Saturday, but K-State ultimately came up short and lost 68-61.
“We miss his energy,” Weber said. “He’s our leading rebounder. We’ll miss that, but I thought the other guys came in. He’s got more experience than maybe Luke and Selton, but we had a chance to win the game. We battled ... At least I thought we made some progress as a team and did some good things. Now can we keep going forward even though we have another setback without DaJuan?”