A few hours after some rumors circled, Virginia made it official — star freshman forward De’Andre Hunter will miss the entire with a broken wrist. The announcement was made by head coach Tony Bennett.
According to the school, he will have surgery next Monday (March 19), and be out 10-12 weeks. He’s expected to make a full recovery.
Hunter, the ACC’s Sixth Man of the Year, averaged 9.2 points and 3.5 rebounds for UVA this season; however, that only tells a small portion of the story. In ACC play, Hunter took his game to a new level — 10.8 points, 58.2 percent true shooting and a player efficiency rating of 25.5.
A fast-rising NBA prospect, Hunter was also starting to flash an efficient three-point stroke, too. The 6-foot-7 combo forward was also named to the All-ACC Freshman Team — along with Marvin Bagley and Wendell Carter.
When I covered Hunter last week in Brooklyn at the ACC Tournament, he played at times with his wrist taped or wrapped.
This, of course, feels a lot like 2015 again, when the No. 1 seed Cavaliers dealt with a hand injury to then star wing Justin Anderson.
According to Synergy Sports, De’Andre Hunter shot 60 percent on isolation attempts this season; he also scored 1.27 points per possession on non-post-up attempts at the basket. That ranks 22nd in the ACC amongst players with at least 60 possessions. Simply put: Hunter is unstoppable at time. The cost of this injury, for this season’s team, is devastating.