Chuma Okeke is now on the road to recovery.
Auburn's star sophomore forward, who tore his ACL in the Tigers' Sweet 16 win over North Carolina last week, had a successful surgery this morning with Dr. James Andrews, Bruce Pearl said Tuesday afternoon.
“Everything went well in the repair of his ACL," Pearl said on the Paul Finebaum Show. “He’s out of surgery with Dr. Andrews.”
After an exhausting Saturday dealing with the fresh injury, Okeke planned to stay at Auburn's team hotel during its Elite Eight contest. He watched the game from his hotel room, and before halftime, he called a team representative to come pick him up and bring him to the Sprint Center.
In his wheelchair, Okeke was behind the bench in the second half for Auburn's first Final Four berth in program history. Teammates hung the nets around his neck after the game and presented him with the Midwest Regional championship trophy.
"Going to Minneapolis is challenging," Pearl said. "Going without our best player in Chuma Okeke is even more challenging."
The Tigers face 1-seed Virginia on Saturday at 5:09 p.m. CST at U.S. Bank Stadium. The action will be broadcast on CBS.
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Nathan King, senior in journalism with a minor in business, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
