Irish Forward Bonzie Colson To Miss Eight Weeks With Foot Injury
The Notre Dame men's basketball program suffered a big blow today as the team announced star senior forward Bonzie Colson will miss about eight weeks of action after suffering a fractured left foot in practice this week.
Colson was playing on the All-American level most expected averaging 21.4 points and 10.4 rebounds in 14 games including nine double-doubles after earning third-team honors last year. The senior was selected as the preseason ACC Player of the Year and received various other preseason honors including being named to All-American teams, etc.
"We are all feeling for Bonzie right now, who was performing as well as any player in the country," Irish head coach Mike Brey stated. "We need to embrace this challenge. This program has lost key guys before and we figured out a way to earn an NCAA bid."
Brey is potentially referencing the 2009-2010 season when Notre Dame lost star forward Luke Harangody for a few games, but the Irish managed to weather the storm and still earn an NCAA tournament bid.
Notre Dame will now count on its young frontcourt to help make up for the absence of Colson's production and complement the team's other top scorers: senior point guard Matt Farrell (16.4 PPG, 5.1 APG) and sophomore guard TJ Gibbs (14.1 PPG).
Sophomore John Mooney (3.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG), junior Elijah Burns (1.5 PPG, 2.0 RPG) and senior Austin Torres (1.0 PPG, 1.2 RPG) will see their minutes increased to varying degrees with Colson out as Brey and company attempt to find the best combination moving forward.
The Irish also may consider shifting freshman wing DJ Harvey (5.1 PPG, 2.2 RPG) to the starting lineup in certain situations and allow him to play the '4.'
Notre Dame currently sits at 11-3 overall and 1-0 in the ACC after taking down Georgia Tech on Dec. 30.
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