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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.
Jack Nunge suffers season-ending injury: https://t.co/W2mZYUqAp3
— Iowa Basketball (@IowaHoops) February 26, 2021
“Jack was really playing well & making great strides this year before another unfortunate setback. He is beloved by his teammates & everyone in our program will support Jack during his recovery.” - Fran McCaffery pic.twitter.com/OMG1ShiA79
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.
I rarely drop F-bombs on here so brace yourself....
— Hawkeye Elvis (@HawkeyeElvis) February 26, 2021
Whatever force in the universe that has it out for Jack Nunge: Fuck you. Let the kid alone.
Best of luck to Jack. We wish him the speediest of recoveries.