OXFORD, Miss. With the start of the 2008-09 basketball season just one week away, Ole Miss suffered a blow to its backcourt Friday when the team learned that sophomore guard Trevor Gaskins will need to undergo season-ending knee surgery after sustaining an ACL injury to his left knee during practice on Thursday.
The Alpharetta, Ga., native looked to be a key component to a Rebel backcourt touted by Blue Ribbon Yearbook as the best in the SEC entering this season. Gaskins was voted by the league coaches to last year’s SEC All-Freshman team after he averaged 5.9 points per contest. He played in all 35 games with eight starts and was third on the team with 46 three-pointers a season ago.
“This is disheartening for Trevor,” said head coach Andy Kennedy. “He has worked so hard throughout the offseason and really put himself in position to have big sophomore year. I’m terribly disappointed for him, but Trev is a tremendous competitor who will overcome this setback and have a very bright future in our program.”
Gaskins had a breakout performance in last year’s win over defending national champion Florida, scoring 19 points on 6-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-5 from behind the arc. He also had big games against Auburn (15 points) and the season opener versus Mississippi Valley State (21 points on 7-of-10 three-pointers).
A deep and talented returning backcourt that still includes juniors Eniel Polynice and David Huertas and sophomores Chris Warren and Zach Graham will lead the Rebels into Friday’s season opener vs. Arkansas State. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Tad Smith Coliseum.
