BYU Basketball senior guard LJ Rose to have knee surgery on Friday

The BYU Cougars basketball team is going to take a hit to their guard line. Today, it was announced that BYU senior guard LJ Rose has suffered an injury to his knee.

Rose — a team captain — has started every single game for the Cougars this season. He is averaging 5.5 points and 4.6 rebounds while leading the Y with his 4.5 assists.

In a press release from BYU, it was revealed that Rose had been playing with discomfort in his knee for the past few weeks. The release also explained on the severity of the knee injury:

On Monday, Rose underwent an MRI that revealed a tear in the meniscus. Rose will have surgery on Friday. A timeline for his return to the court will be determined following the procedure.

Rose, a former Houston Cougar, is 4th on the team in minutes played — meaning that 26.1 minutes just opened up in the Cougar backcourt.

This is the 2nd time a torn meniscus has riddled the 2016-17 BYU hoops team. Just before the season began, Elijah Bryant suffered an injury to his meniscus. Bryant would miss 10 games over 5 weeks.

While the severity of the tears and the success of Rose and Bryant’s recovery may differ, it is possible that LJ Rose may not be available to Coach Dave Rose for the remaining 3 weeks in the regular season; 4 weeks from now is the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas; 6 weeks from now represents the opening rounds of the national post-season tournaments.

Thursday night’s game is against Pepperdine in Malibu. Since the game is on the road and Rose’s surgery is schedule for Friday, it is fair to bet that Rose won’t play against the Waves. Not to mention that Rose and everybody involve would certainly not want to aggravate the injury further.

This is not LJ Rose’s first struggle with injuries. In 2015, he suffered a season ending injury to his right foot. He continued to struggle with his foot and missed the majority of last season.

Best of luck to LJ for a smooth and quick recovery.