Illinois Basketball: Jalen Coleman-Lands breaks shooting hand, out eight weeks
Sophomore guard, Jalen Coleman-Lands, is expected to be one of Illinois basketball’s best players in 2016-17.
The main issue with Illinois last season was not the coaching or the execution or even the lack of talent compared to the other top teams in the Big Ten.
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The problem was the roster was slammed with injuries.
Tracy Abrams suffered a torn Achilles before the season even began. Mike Thorne Jr. had a knee injury. Kendrick Nunn had a thumb injury. And Leron Black was ruled out indefinitely in December for his own knee problem.
Three of the four players will be back in the fold in 2016-17 (except Nunn who was dismissed from the program), as the team looks to reach their first NCAA Tournament since 2013.
Unfortunately, things are starting on the wrong foot.
We haven’t even reached October yet and the Illini are already dealing with a new injury. Sophomore guard Jalen Coleman-Lands, who is one of the most important players on the roster this year, broke his shooting hand and is expected to miss eight weeks.
#Illini basketball news. Jalen Coleman-Lands suffers broken hand. Had surgery on Friday. Expected to miss 8 weeks.
— Craig Choate (@craigwchoate) September 10, 2016
The eight week timetable will push Coleman-Lands’ recovery right up to the start of the regular season, which is certainly bad news for head coach John Groce.
Considering the injury is to his shooting hand and not his off-hand, Coleman-Lands is likely to be rusty even if he is ready to go for the opening game against Southeast Missouri State on November 11.
While this isn’t devastating news, Illinois needs Coleman-Lands to be fully healthy.
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The former four-star recruit was the team’s fourth leading scorer in 2015-16, as he averaged 10.3 points per game on 41 percent shooting overall and 42 percent from beyond the three point line. He developed into a solid reliable role player and a decent spot up shooter from the perimeter.
But in 2016-17, Groce and Illinois fans are expecting him to take a larger role on offense. Coleman-Lands is a breakout candidate in the Big Ten as he will likely play even more minutes (26.1 per game) than he averaged last year.
With Nunn gone, Illinois is looking for a scorer who can pair with potential Big Ten First Team All-Conference selection, Malcolm Hill.
The most concerning part about this news for the Illini is the fact that this isn’t Coleman-Lands’ first injury in college.
Before the season last year, the then-freshmen dealt with a stress fracture in his foot and was forced to miss the team’s foreign tour. He lost valuable development time during the 2015 off-season and now is losing two months of practice time in 2016.
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Coleman-Lands will return and will likely become the team’s second best player. However, the Illini better hope they don’t get dealt with another injury bug in 2016-17.