Auburn’s 13th-ranked men’s basketball team, Bruce Pearl, and the university’s supporters can all breathe a sigh of relief.
After a preliminary assessment on Sunday morning, Auburn fifth-year forward Jaylin Williams’ knee injury from Saturday’s loss to Kentucky was determined to be “non-season ending.”
Auburn released a statement on Sunday.
“Graduate senior forward Jaylin Williams was evaluated this morning and has a non-season ending knee injury,” the statement read.
Auburn’s announcement followed Williams’s brief but heartfelt message on X, the social media site that was formerly known as Twitter.
Williams wrote, “I’m going to be fine.
“Midway through the second half of Saturday’s defeat to No. 22 Kentucky, Williams seemed to injure his right knee after going up for a contested dunk and landing awkwardly.
After that, Williams was assisted to the locker room without bearing any weight on his damaged leg. He did not come back to the Auburn bench for the Tigers’ 70-59 defeat.
Bruce Pearl, the head coach of Auburn, expressed concern about Williams’ injuries after the game.
“We believe he must possess something; we believe it to be something.
” He had pivot, so it’s not simply a bang,” Pearl remarked. “We’ll examine it after we perform an MRI tomorrow.”
Although Williams’ preliminary evaluation yielded positive results, it is uncertain how much time he could miss. As a result, Pearl and the Tigers will probably need to make some adjustments to replace Williams’ production.
Williams is the winningest player in Auburn history and is averaging 13 points and 4.7 rebounds per game this season.
Following Saturday’s defeat, Pearl remarked, “If Jaylin’s out, we’re going to have to figure some things out.” We have guys who I believe will step up.
However, Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams are our two top players.
Therefore, the next man up must step up if he is gone for a short duration.
That is a noteworthy setback.
Luckily for Pearl and the Tigers, Auburn has finally reached its bye week.
This means there isn’t a mid-week game to prepare for and the Tigers have a little more time to figure out how to move forward without Williams—at least for the time being.
Additionally, Sunday morning’s news suggested that Williams might return before the season ends.
