Lior Berman's knee injury not as bad as originally thought, Auburn's Bruce Pearl says
AUBURN — Lior Berman suffered an ACL injury against Mississippi State on March 2, but Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl said on Tiger Talk that it was not a complete tear of the knee ligament like he originally believed it was.
“Somehow, I either got it wrong or didn’t quite have all the information," Pearl said Thursday. "We thought Lior had a complete tear of the ACL. He did not. Even his exam afterwards and different things like that demonstrated that there was a lot of things about the knee that was really strong. It was an ACL injury, but it’s not torn. When they got back in, they looked at the MRI (and) did some things there, he’s got some damage to it but it’s not torn.
"And everything else is super, super tight and solid. So, Lior will rehab for about three or four weeks. I don’t anticipate him being back this year. It depends how far we go. But the good news is, rather than a six-month recovery for Lior, it’s going to be a four-to-six-week recovery, which then lets him go play pro and tryout and do all that he’s got to do.”
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Pearl's update comes four days after he told reporters Monday that Berman suffered a "complete ACL tear."
Berman, a former walk-on in his fifth season with the Tigers, had earned extended time on the floor in the games leading up to his injury. He averaged more than 10 minutes over his most recent three contests, totaling 14 points on 75% shooting.
"It was very, very difficult to have Lior go down in his senior year when he was playing so well," Pearl added Thursday. "He had worked his way into the regular rotation. He wasn't just, 'Well, he might play 10 or 11 minutes or whatever. We'll see how he does.' No, he was playing 10-15 minutes behind Chad Baker-Mazara and doing a really, really good job. It was a tough injury."
Berman has plans to pursue professional basketball opportunities in Israel next year, according to Pearl.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Lior Berman ACL update: Bruce Pearl says it wasn't a complete tear
