Crean confirms Roth injury, surgery Wednesday
Tom Crean confirmed Monday evening on his weekly radio show with Don Fischer that Indiana sophomore guard Matt Roth broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot during a practice in Puerto Rico and will have surgery on Wednesday. Here’s a transcript of Crean’s comments:
“It actually happened the first practice there. We started out with some two-hand rebounding and then we went to some one-on-one rebounding and that’s where he got hurt. He just got tangled and none of us knew it at the time. I don’t even remember him falling. But I remember him being in the drill and it was one those, we’re starting to get after it drills. And the way he described it is, he just got tangled up and his ankle didn’t move. Tim (Garl) was pretty sure and then Dr. Rink and Dr. Ahlfeld got there shortly after that to the practice and took him in to be x-rayed. It’s been confirmed that he’s got a fifth metatarsal break and he’s going to have surgery on Wednesday”
“And so, it hurts us. He’s made a ton of strides, he’s gained over 20 pounds and if you would have told me he’d had more two-point baskets in two games than three-point baskets I wouldn’t have believed it. You know, there’s no question that’s a guy that really, really spaces the floor and understands the angles and is a smart young man. What we’ll do is, he’ll have the surgery now, this got determined last night. And then we’ll just read it. He’ll rehab and try to come back in the sense of let’s see what happens this year. But if gets into that early February time or gets even into January and he doesn’t want to try I would never make him do that. I want him to do what’s best for his career. Now if its early January then I think there’s a decision to make and now maybe he’s right there back for the Big Ten. But if it gets into February, we don’t want him to burn his year.”