St. John’s sophomore Justin Burrell sustained three small facial fractures during a collision with teammate Sean Evans at practice Thursday and will miss this weekend’s Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden.
“It’s an unfortunate injury, which is part of the game, but Justin is doing well,” Red Storm head coach Norm Roberts said. “We will miss him for the Holiday Festival, but we will see what happens with the doctors this week and go from there.”
“He will be reevaluated next week,” added St. John’s spokesman Mark Fratto said. “He’s already been fitted for a custom face shield. If things go well with the doctors, he’ll be ready to play with the face shield and he would be back for Miami Dec. 27.
“If it’s determined that he’ll require surgery to correct this, he’ll be out 3-4 weeks.”
The Red Storm, who have won six straight and are 8-1 entering Saturday’s game with Marist. The winner will face the Columbia-Virginia Tech winner in Sunday’s title game.
Burrell sustained a right ankle injury in Saturday’s victory over Bethune-Cookman and played just 17 minutes.
St. John’s is already without senior wing Anthony Mason Jr., out for the season with a torn tendon in his right foot.