No. 5 Texas’ undefeated season just took an enormous loss.
Junior guard Rori Harmon is out for the season with a torn ACL in her right knee, the program announced Friday. Harmon sustained the injury during shootaround ahead of the Longhorns’ game against Jackson State on Wednesday.
It’s unclear how the injury happened, though Harmon mentioned it was a non-contact injury in a social media post.
Harmon’s statement on the injury:
“I’m grateful for the support of my teammates and coaching staff during this difficult time,” Harmon said. “I also want to thank our medical staff at Texas for taking care of me. I’m heartbroken that I won’t be able to play with my teammates this season, but I’m going to support them and be the best teammate I can be. We have big goals for this season and those are not going to change. We are going to come into the gym every day and work hard to achieve those goals. We have the best fans and will play hard for them and for each other.”
Harmon was an All-Big 12 first team selection and the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year last season, as well as the Most Outstanding Player of the Big 12 Tournament. She was on pace for an even better season this year, averaging career highs in points (14.2), assists (7.8), rebounds (5.6) and steals (3.1) per game with a career low in turnovers per game (1.2).
That performance was at the center of Texas’ undefeated start, which has seen the team defeat No. 15 UConn and Arizona. It’s not a well-timed injury, as Texas is scheduled to begin conference play Saturday in an undefeated clash with No. 10 Baylor, then three consecutive ranked opponents after a road trip to Texas Tech.
With Harmon out, Texas figures to lean more on top recruit Madison Booker, who has averaged 11.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game so far in her freshman season.
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