The Texas Longhorns have really hit their stride recently as they have won their last six games after starting off 2-3. One of those wins was an extremely impressive one over North Carolina who came into this season as the number one team in the country. Texas has another big game on Tuesday night against UConn but unfortunately they will be without an important player in Cameron Ridley who fractured his foot and is out indefinitely, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.
Ridley suffered the fractured foot in practice on Sunday and is set to undergo surgery on Tuesday in Austin. Officially the team has not given a timetable as they are just ruling him out indefinitely but a timetable of 6-8 weeks with a return around late February is what is expected, according to Wescott Eberts of SB Nation.
Ridley is one of the Longhorns most important players and this injury comes at really unfortunate time for him and Texas as after they play UConn on Tuesday they will begin conference play in the Big 12. The 6 foot-9 senior center has really grown as a player this season and although his stats are great his value cannot be tied to the basic statistics. Ridley is second on the team with his 12.7 points per game and leads the team with his 10.0 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game but that only tells part of the story as you can see here.
As of right now Texas' resume looks like that of a team that is worthy of an NCAA tournament bid but Ridley's injury could change their fate quickly. Ridley is their rim protector and best low-post threat on offense and if Texas gets in a rut while he is out it will be hard for them to recover and find their way back into the tournament mix. Shaka Smart's team is still extremely talented as Isaiah Taylor can carry them at times but Ridley's injury leaves a massive hole on the team.
In Ridley's absence Prince Ibeh is expected to see more action along with Shaquille Cleare. So far this season both guys are averaging less than 10 minutes per game but Ibeh can make up for Ridley's absence on the defensive end as he is averaging more than four blocks per 40 minutes. Cleare is a transfer from Maryland that has never really gotten much playing time in his career but should have an opportunity now to earn some more minutes.