Nijel Pack’s status for Duke game, rest of UM season is in question due to injuries
The University of Miami men’s basketball team, mired in a four-game losing slump, might have to play its remaining five games without starting guard Nijel Pack.
Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga said Monday that Pack has been battling injuries all season and his status for the home game against No. 9 Duke on Wednesday and the remainder of the season is in question.
Pack, a fourth-year junior who played on UM’s Final Four team last spring, missed Miami’s loss to Boston College on Saturday with a “lower extremity” injury and had missed two prior games, as well. Larranaga said during the Atlantic Coast Conference coaches media conference call that he, team doctors, Pack and the player’s family were discussing the guard’s future.
“While I’m on this conference call, our doctors are going to be on a conference call with Nijel and his parents to really look into the future and see what’s best for the young man,” Larranaga said. “He’s dealt with these injuries all season long. This is not something that just happened in the last week. He was dealing with this back in December. He missed a couple of games, then he came back and played and now he’s missing a couple more games.
“Last week in our home game against Carolina and then our road game against Clemson, Nijel was just not himself. He tried his best, he gave a great effort, but he was in pain. He’s such a great competitor. He wanted to try to help the team as much as he could, but injuries are injuries. You have to deal with them. We’ll find out either today or tomorrow what his status is for the remainder of the season.”
Pack has played in 23 of UM’s 26 games this year, and is averaging 13.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Miami (15-11, 6-9 ACC) is an NCAA Tournament long shot this season after a magical March in 2023.