Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner will not return to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after suffering a knee injury during the Bluejays’ first-round win over San Diego State on Thursday.
Early in overtime of the 72-69 victory, Kalkbrenner went down and grimaced after posting up the Aztecs’ Aguek Arop. The 7-foot-1 sophomore got up, tried to take a couple of steps and went back down, holding his left knee.
After several minutes, Kalkbrenner was helped off the floor without putting weight on his left leg.
Creighton coach Greg McDermott tweeted Friday that Kalkbrenner would need two to three months to recover but that the injury wasn’t as bad as expected.
While Big Ryan will be out the rest of the tournament, his knee injury was not as significant as originally thought. We expect a full recovery in the next 2-3 months. Our 🙏 were answered! #RDJ
— Coach McDermott (@cucoachmac) March 18, 2022
Kalkbrenner had 16 points and 10 rebounds before leaving Thursday’s win. He is the Bluejays’ No. 2 scorer this season at 13.1 points per game.
The ninth-seeded Bluejays (23-11) will face top-seeded Kansas on Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.