Xavier Johnson might be the CU Buffs basketball team’s Achilles’ heel for the 2015-16 season due to an actual torn Achilles tendon. Johnson suffered this injury about two weeks ago in an off-season workout and has already undergone surgery.
The question now is whether or not Johnson will be seeing any court time his senior season. Johnson has been a key player for the Buffs over the past three years. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound guard and forward has started 66 games and played in 95. His three-year average is 10.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. He enters his final collegiate season ranking third in school history in 3-point percentage of CU players standing 6-foot-6 or taller with .382 percentage (91-of-238) and is 10 points shy of 1,000-point make of his college career.
Last year Johnson played 29 games with 15 starts. He averaged 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. However, he suffered a high ankle sprain that cost him three week of the 2014-15 season. When he returned after his injury had healed, he was utilized more as a reserve than a starter.
Tad Boyle notes that Johnson will not be ready for the start of 2015-16 season, but he is optimistic.
“The entire Buffalo basketball family is disappointed with this injury, especially for Xavier, who has meant so much to our program through the last three years,” Boyle said in a press release from the team. “(His) surgery went well and we’re expecting a full, and hopefully a speedy recovery. We’re not putting a time-table on anything; we’re looking forward to helping Xavier through this process and getting him back healthy, and help this program win more games.”
Johnson still has a redshirt season available and that might be an option considering that he is a senior. Time will tell how much playing time he could have in the upcoming season, if he even is able to step onto the court, but Boyle is not pushing it.
“The doctors and Xavier are going to have the ultimate call on it and a lot of that is going to depend on how everything goes,” Boyle told The Daily Camera.
Sabrina Naccarato, a Mile High Sports intern and MSU-Denver student, contributed to this report