Baylor forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua will have season-ending left knee surgery after an MRI revealed damage to multiple ligaments, the school announced Sunday.
Tchamwa Tchatchoua suffered the gruesome injury during the 10th-ranked Bears’ 80-63 men’s basketball win over Texas on Saturday.
Tchamwa Tchatchoua was going down the court after a missed shot by the Bears when his left leg turned awkwardly and he crumbled to the floor near midcourt with just under 12 minutes left in the first half. After being tended to for several minutes, he didn’t put any weight on his left leg when being helped off the court.
A Bears spokesperson on Saturday said Tchamwa Tchatchoua was out indefinitely, and on Sunday, the decision was made.
“Bittersweet as a coach. I think all parents can relate to, whenever you see your child or one of your players get hurt like that, and they’ve worked so hard,” coach Scott Drew said after the win. “Don’t know the severity of it, but obviously didn’t look good.”
Drew called the portion of the game in which the injury occurred as “one of those plays you don’t like looking at,” and the Bears, the defending national champions, will head down the stretch in the Big 12 season without a key cog.
The 6-foot-8 player from Cameroon, known as “Everyday Jon” because of his high-energy play, was coming off a career-high 21 points in Baylor’s win Wednesday over Kansas State.
“I saw a bad kind of awkward fall, and then I saw an elite competitor, you know, obviously in some pain,” Texas coach Chris Beard said. “Tough guys like that don’t show that kind of emotion unless something’s going on. … I can’t tell you how much respect I have for him as a player.”
Baylor enters the week in second place in the Big 12 behind Kansas but just one game ahead of Texas Tech. The Bears will meet the Red Raiders on Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.