The Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s basketball team suffered a blow on Monday when forward Parker Fox suffered a knee injury during practice.
Gophers head coach Ben Johnson told the media on Tuesday that the injury occurred on “a normal play” with a crowd under the basket. He also said the injury is to the opposite knee that missed all of last season with a torn ACL.
“It’s unfortunately just one of those things that come with playing,” Johnson explained. “So now we’ll support him until we find out further information and obviously you hope for the best for him and figure out where we go from there once we get all the right information.”
Fox was one of Johnson’s biggest transfers heading into last season after the Mahtomedi native averaged 19.9 points and 8.8 rebounds per game in the 2019-20 season for Division II Northern State. Although Fox committed to the Gophers shortly after his injury, Johnson informed him that he was out for the year and allowed Fox to take his time in rehab.
“You talk about a guy that did arguably the best job I’ve been around as far as rehab,” Johnson said. “…He took his time. He was diligent. I thought our training staff did a great job. I thought the people that were around him and worked with him did a great job. I know he was really confident. He was playing well and it’s just one of those things that you hope is not season-ending.”
Losing Fox would be a big blow to the Gophers, who have added some key pieces through the transfer portal this offseason, including Prior Lake native and former four-start recruit Dawson Garcia from North Carolina. Morehead State guard Ta’Lon Cooper and Dartmouth guard Taurus Samuels are also expected to have big roles.
