Maryland men’s basketball forward Justin Jackson will miss the rest of the 2017-18 season due to a torn labrum, according to head coach Mark Turgeon.
“We’ve known he’s been hurt for a while. Ever since we started sitting him out, we knew he had an injury, and it was something we thought he could play through,” Turgeon told the Baltimore Sun. “But we just decided over Christmas that it’s not in the best interest of Justin, and that we were going to go ahead and do the surgery.”
Jackson, who missed Maryland’s last three games because of shoulder soreness, entered his sophomore season with high expectations as he was projected to be a first round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Instead, Jackson was averaging 9.8 points per game, shot 36 percent from the floor and 25 percent from deep.
Maryland will be losing a valuable piece to the roster as Jackson was able to use his size and 7-3 wingspan to guard multiple positions. Jackson was the Terps’ leader in rebounds, averaging 8.1 boards per contest. Jackson’s best game of the season came against Illinois on Dec. 3 when he tallied 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Players like senior Dion Wiley, junior Ivan Bender and Jared Nickens are expected to step up in Jackson’s absence. Freshman Darryl Morsell, who has started in three games, could see his minutes increase.
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