Siena senior Imoh Silas was ruled out for the season on Tuesday, when it was revealed that a torn ACL in his right knee required surgery.
The school announced that the senior, who started in 53 of 68 games in the last two seasons, injured his knee in practice on Thursday. An MRI on the knee confirmed the extent of the injury, which typically requires 6-9 months to heal following reconstructive surgery.
“Imoh’s our family member and he has another year left to play,” head coach Jimmy Patsos said. “Hopefully he comes back, but that’s up to him. He graduates (in May). I’d certainly welcome him back. Everybody has injuries. It’s the way of the sports world now.”
Silas, who lost a year of eligibility after being forced to spend the 2012-13 season in residence by the NCAA, averaged 3.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg and 1.7 bpg in his career.
“He single-handedly won that Cornell game and that was a big turnaround for us,” Patsos said. “He just got to go home to Nigeria. He hadn’t been home in three and a half years. You put in perspective what he’s done, and everyone on campus loves him.”
“We still have our starting five, but we didn’t have anyone else like him. Now somebody else has to step up.”
Ryan Restivo wrote the America East conference preview for the 2014-15 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. He covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the America East conference and Hofstra for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.
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