Auburn junior Austin Wiley is recovering from surgery on his broken thumb, according to a Facebook post from his mother, Vickie Orr Wiley, on Monday.
Vickie Orr Wiley said the injury occurred in the Tigers' Round of 32 victory over Kansas in Salt Lake City.
“My Big Guy is in recovery from his thumb surgery!" Vickie Orr Wiley wrote on Facebook. "The injury actually occurred during the Kansas game when a Kansas player hit his hand in an attempt to strip the ball from him. Of course we thought it was just a jammed thumb and taped it up for the remaining three games of the season. It wasn’t until returning from the Final Four did we find out it was broken. Thanks for all the prayers and text messages to check on Austin.”
The surgery was performed at the Hughston Surgical Center in Columbus, Georgia — just under an hour from Auburn's main campus.
A 6-foot-11 center from Hoover, Alabama, Austin Wiley missed all of Auburn's 2017-18 season as Auburn elected to sit him amid eligibility concerns in relation to the Chuck Person FBI scandal. He appeared in 29 of Auburn's 40 games last season after a lower left leg injury persisted midseason.
Off the bench, Austin Wiley played his best basketball of the season in the SEC and NCAA tournaments for the Tigers, including six and seven points against Kansas in the Round of 32 and Kentucky in the Elite Eight, respectively, en route to Auburn's first Final Four appearance in program history.
He's still yet to announce his plans for the 2019 NBA draft process.
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Nathan King, senior in journalism with a minor in business, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
