NC State freshman power forward Ernest Ross will miss the rest of the season with a fractured right ankle and have surgery Friday.
“I just feel awful for Ernest,” said NC State coach Kevin Keatts in a statement. “When it first occurred, we were hopeful that it was just a sprain and that we could get him back in a couple of weeks, but unfortunately X-Rays revealed a fracture."
The Alachua, Fla., native had played double figure minutes in four of the last five games he played in this season, including a season-high 18 minutes in the Pack’s win at Louisville on Jan. 12. In his last five games, Ross shot 8-of-11 from the field, grabbed 12 rebounds and had four blocked shots.
Ross missed Saturday's game against Duke after injuring the ankle in practice.
"It’s a tough ending to his freshman season," Keatts said. "Ernest has really locked in over the last month. We’ve been able to see in practices and in games that everything was slowing down for him, that he was gaining confidence in his understanding of what we do offensively and defensively. He’d earned his spot in the rotation and had played some big minutes for us in crunch time of both of our ACC wins."
Rivals.com ranked the 6-foot-9, 190-pound Ross the No. 87 overall player in the country in the class of 2021.
"It’s a big loss for us and everybody will need to step up.I’m very excited for Ernest’s future. He’s going to be a great player for this program. We’ll get his ankle fixed, get him in the gym and weight room this summer and I think he’s primed for a great sophomore season.”
NC State previously lost redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates in the season opener, and junior power forward Greg Gantt hasn't played a game this season due to a sports hernia.
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