Jack Nunge out for season

Your Iowa Hawkeye basketball team suffered two losses Thursday night against Michigan as backup center Jack Nunge sustained a season-ending injury the blowout to the Wolverines.

It appeared Nunge hurt the same right knee of an ACL he tore a year ago on a non-contact play early in the contest.

The university release states Nunge tore his meniscus. He’s to undergo surgery next week and expected to be out for the next four-six months.

The implications for this injury are broad. Nunge was Luka Garza’s primary (only) backup on the roster when Garza needed a breather, and Fran McCaffery was keen to play the two at the same time.

He led Iowa’s bench with 7 points and 5 boards per game, and had 18-point efforts against Ohio State and Michigan State earlier in the year.

Now, Iowa will be forced to go with a small lineup when Garza needs a breather as it seems highly unlikely Josh Ogundele sees playing time of any significance this late in the season. Keegan Murray becomes the de-facto backup 5 now at 6’8’’ and 215 lbs. With tourney time around the corner, this one really hurts.

Nunge suffered hardship after hardship throughout his college career, with a family tragedy impacting him at the start of the season. So I’ll just let Elvis take it from here.

Best of luck to Jack. We wish him the speediest of recoveries.