Gophers freshman forward Isaiah Ihnen is out for Tuesday's season opener vs. Cleveland State with a right wrist injury, Richard Pitino said Monday.
Gophers freshman Isaiah Ihnen out for opener Tuesday with wrist injury
Isaiah Ihnen, a 6-9 native of Germany, was the top-rated recruit in Richard Pitino's 2019 recruiting class.
November 4, 2019 at 10:04PM
Ihnen, a 6-foot-9 native of Germany, was the top-rated recruit in Richard Pitino's 2019 recruiting class. He was expected to compete for playing time at power forward to open the season.
Ihnen missed last week's 73-48 exhibition victory over Southwest Minnesota State. Pitino said Ihnen was hopeful for Saturday's game vs. Oklahoma in Sioux Falls.
"He's getting better," said Pitino, who watched Ihnen practice in non-contact drills Monday.
X-rays on Ihnen's wrist injury came away negative for broken bones, so the timetable for his return could be sooner than later.
The Gophers already lost frontcourt depth after junior Eric Curry suffered a torn anterior crucicate ligament in practice last month. Senior Alihan Demir, a graduate transfer from Drexel, started at power forward last week in the exhibition victory. Coming off the bench at forward were senior Michael Hurt and sophomore Jarvis Omersa.
Pitino has seven newcomers on the Gophers 2019-20 roster, the most for the program since 2004-05. Ihnen and guard Tre' Williams were both four-star recruits in the 2019 class, which included center Sam Freeman and guard Bryan Greenlee.
Matthew Wood got the scoring going with a goal only 9 seconds into the game.
