Notre Dame suffered a huge loss Friday when co-captain Tim Abromaitis suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee at morning practice.
Abromaitis had played in two games and was averaging 14.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. He had missed Notre Dame first four games due to misunderstanding of a technicality in an NCAA rule governing seasons of competition that dated back to the 2008-09 campaign when he played in the first two exhibition of his sophomore campaign and then sat out the remainder of that season.
In his first return back to the Irish lineup in Notre Dame’s 87-58 loss to Missouri in the semifinals of the CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo., the fifth-year senior scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
“Tim Abromaitis is one of the great stories in college athletics and represents everything that is good about college basketball,” Irish head coach Mike Brey said.
“We are all disappointed for Tim because of all that he has meant to our program. He has been such a big part of our success over the past three seasons. Tim is such a special young man and an unbelievable representative of Notre Dame both on and off the basketball court.”
A preseason all-Big East selection, Abromaitis graduated from Notre Dame in May 2010 with a degree in finance and received an MBA from the Mendoza College of Business in May 2011. He was a member of the 2011 USA Men’s Basketball World University Games Team in August.
He is expected to undergo surgery in the next two weeks.