Just as Oregon was getting healthy with N’Faly Dante and Nate Bittle returning to the starting lineup, the Ducks suffered a major blow to their depth. Keeshawn Barthelemy went down with a lower leg injury in the second half against Arizona on Saturday and was hospitalized before the game ended.
On Tuesday, Oregon head coach Dana Altman said Barthelemy would “probably not” return this season as he has a long road to recovery ahead of him.
“He’s doing well,” Altman said. “A lot of the tests came out okay, we still got some more to run. He’s resting comfortably, not getting around, he’s laid up in his apartment. He’ll take a long time to recover here, it’ll be a while, but hopefully the rest of the tests will come out good.”
Barthelemy suffered his lower leg injury on a drive to the basket that resulted in his shoe falling off and his foot facing the wrong way.
“For me personally I’ve been through a lot,” Dante said after Sunday’s game. “So seeing my teammate go out like that is not something that I want to see.”
Dante fell to the floor when he saw Barthelemy’s injury and Altman had a visceral reaction seeing his veteran point guard go down.
“Seeing him like that,” Altman said after Sunday’s game. “I’ve got bad ankles, so when I see a bad ankle, it makes my stomach cringe. He’s played great and had a rhythm going there, and it’s just sad to see.”
Barthelemy scored seven points and had four rebounds in 16 minutes of action against Arizona.
He lead the second unit, backing up Jackson Shelstad, averaging 7.9 points per game while shooting 46.2% from the field on the year. Barthelemy closed out games this year when Altman needed veteran leadership on the floor.
Losing Barthelemy will be a massive blow to Oregon’s depth, as he averaged 23 minutes a game this season, Brennan Rigsby and Kario Oquendo will see more minutes in his place.
Barthelemy’s veteran leadership would’ve been huge during March and the close games leading to the Pac-12 Tournament, but now the young point guards will have to take on the burden of growing up quickly throughout the season.
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