Bobby Hurley Updates ASU Injury Situation

TEMPE -- The Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball program is set to enter the 2025-26 season on Tuesday - when they are set to face Southern Utah this Tuesday.

This will officially usher in Bobby Hurley's 11th season as head coach - this is almost an entirely new roster that will be faced with numerous challenges in year two of Big 12 play, including injuries.

Hurley gave several updates on that front in his media availability on Thursday - some good and some devastating.

Hurley Gives Unfortunate Update on Previously Injured Standout

"We're, you know, we kind of had a continuation of last season's dilemma with with injuries that we fought quite a bit. So got a lot of experience with that over the last two years. So trying to push through that. Got some news on that front.

Unfortunately, on Sunday versus Texas A&M - Vijay Wallace went up for a dunk and he dislocated his ankle, so he had surgery yesterday. He's going to miss the season. It was really heartbreaking to see it. It was probably one of the worst ones that I've seen. His prognosis is very good to get better in a couple of months following the surgery, but just the players were really emotionally beat up just seeing that it's hard to even finish the game. Really feel terrible for Vijay, but he's a great kid, a hard worker, and he'll get back to where he was prior to the injury."

Wallace was expected to be a key player on this roster after transferring to Tempe as the seventh-best junior college player in the portal. His injury is devastating and already tests the depth of a roster that was supposed to be predicated on built-up talent at multiple positions.

Hurley Gives New Update Surrounding Guard

Hurley also gave an update on a key international player that committed to play for Arizona State that was recently injured during a practice.

"Yesterday at practice, Noah (Meeusen), our guard from Belgium, rolled his ankle, so he's going to be out a few weeks. We're just one of those again, one of those free things that happens in practice. He luckily is not going to need any surgery. And so that was a good silver lining there, but just been a lot on the injury front. So just been, you know, today wasn't as not as many live reps. There won't be as many live reps, so we could get to the game in one piece on Tuesday."

Meeusen's injury is another massive negative development for Sun Devil basketball - as the Belgian standout was one of two player reps at Big 12 Media Days last week. Expect Anthony "Pig" Johnson and Adante Holiman to step up under these circumstances.

Previously Injured Players Set to Return

There is a positive spin that can be made when it comes to injuries, as two standouts are set to be availabile for the opener on Tuesday.

"But the positive side of this is, you know, we're getting some guys back from injury. Alan Mukeba, a very good practice today. He was he's been out by six weeks. Last week was his first week to go non live, and this week he's gone live, and he's doing very well. So he's trending to get back. And the same thing goes for Marcus Adams."

Hurley has been pleased at the progress that has been made by both Mukeba and Allen - both were set to return at similar times to begin with. Center Mor Massamba Diop is also set to play after being held out of exhibition games for precautionary reasons.

They were both on a very similar timeline to get back with lower, lower leg injuries. I think I've covered everything with that, Massamba Diop, you know, we didn't, we didn't have him play in the exhibition. He probably could've, but he rolled his ankle in our Irvine exhibition, so we were very careful with him, just making sure he's 100% and he's been in practice all week as well. So get some guys back. We lost a couple of guys, so that's really the biggest news right now. Imagine with the program, is just what's been happening with our guys physically."

Hurley closed off the injury talk by stating that there is a possibility that both Adams and Mukeba would be playing under minutes restrictions, as they are both still working back into the structure of the team.