UConn women’s basketball’s Aubrey Griffin out for season with ACL tear in left knee
UConn women’s basketball will be without fifth-year forward Aubrey Griffin for the rest of the 2023-24 season after she suffered a left ACL tear against No. 21 Creighton last week.
Coach Geno Auriemma said after the game last Wednesday that Creighton’s team doctor described Griffin’s left knee as “very, very unstable.” The injury was non-contact, occurring after she pivoted to attempt a block late in the third quarter. She exited the floor unable to put weight on her left leg and did not return. The Huskies (12-3, 4-0 Big East) went on to beat the Bluejays (11-3, 2-2) on the road 94-50.
“I don’t know. I mean it was … there was no contact on it,” Auriemma said Wednesday. “She just turned to go someplace. I’m going to find out obviously when we get in [the locker room]. I mean what are you going to say? At this point, I don’t have any words for that.”
Griffin was averaging 9.5 points and six rebounds per game shooting 54.7% from the field in 22 minutes per game. She previously missed the entire 2021-22 season with a back injury and has one season of eligibility remaining.
Griffin’s is the fourth season-ending injury to hit UConn in 2023-24. Redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy was ruled out in July after rupturing her achilles tendon, star guard Azzi Fudd tore her ACL at practice on Nov. 14, and sophomore forward Ayanna Patterson underwent surgery for ongoing patellar tendonitis in December. The team has also been without junior guard Caroline Ducharme since late November due to neck spasms.
The Huskies, already with a guard-heavy roster, now have just three available forwards for the remainder of the season. All-American forward Aaliyah Edwards is the team’s No. 2 scorer averaging 17 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, but junior Amari DeBerry and redshirt freshman Ice Brady are averaging 4.4 and 13.9 minutes per game respectively.
This is the third consecutive season of UConn’s health woes after four players missed at least 14 games due to injuries in 2022-23. Huskies superstar Paige Bueckers, who is currently averaging a team-high 19.6 points, missed the entire season after tearing her ACL in July 2022. Bueckers also missed 19 games in 2021-22, and Fudd missed 11.
