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Xavier basketball gets crushing injury to key transfer

Originally posted on NCAA Basketball on ClutchPoints
By Troy Finnegan | Last updated Oct 14, 2024 2:09 PM ET

Xavier basketball got some deflating news before the 2024-25 season even gets underway. Forward Lassina Traore, one of the top transfers on this Musketeers squad, suffered a season-ending knee injury at practice last Wednesday and will miss the entire season, according to head coach Sean Miller.

“Last Wednesday, Lassina Traore suffered a season-ending knee injury in our practice,” Miller wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Lassina was a starter on this year’s team. He had a great summer and preseason, where he improved his game as much as any player in our program. He emerged to be our team’s best rebounder, low post defender, and shot blocker. He was in superior condition and became a tone setter for everything that impacts winning.”

Traore transferred to Xavier this offseason from Long Beach State and was expected to be a key piece of a Xavier squad that is attempting to get back to the NCAA Tournament after missing out last season. He averaged a double-double in each of the past two seasons and led the Big West in rebounding in Both 2022-23 and 2023-24. Traore will return to the team for the 2025-26 season.

Sean Miller posts crushing message after Lassina Traore injury

Xavier Musketeers head coach Sean Miller coaches against the Connecticut Huskies during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Lassina Traore’s injury is a crushing blow to a Xavier team that underperformed last season, and it came at a terrible time. As the season is about to get underway, it’s too late for Sean Miller and Xavier to do anything to replace Traore externally. As a result, it will fall on the players who are already there to fill Traore’s shoes.

After the injury, Miller posted a heartfelt message on X that details the crushing nature of losing Traore for the season.

“There is no silver lining here for us,” Miller said. “It now becomes our players and coaching staff’s collective responsibility to rebuild our team. We look forward to embracing the many challenges that lie ahead. However, make no mistake about this – we will miss Lassina’s ability and presence. No one player can replace him. All of us will have to do more, be better and step up in our respective roles. We look forward to supporting Lassina through his surgery later this month and the rehabilitation that will follow. And, we will eagerly await his return to the basketball court in our 25-26 Season.”

Traore will have surgery and look to return next season, but this year becomes an uphill battle without him. The star transfer was expected to be one of the top rebounders in the Big East, and the Musketeers will be vulnerable on the interior without him in the lineup.

This article first appeared on NCAA Basketball on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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