Vanderbilt Basketball: Darius Garland injury a devastating blow to the Commodores

Vanderbilt Basketball will be without the services of star Darius Garland for the foreseeable future after a meniscus injury.

For a brief moment, it looked like the Vanderbilt Commodores had real magic with Darius Garland. Just as quick as it came, it went for the forsaken SEC program.

Garland suffered a scary looking injury early in Friday’s contest against the Kent State Golden Flashes. It only took a day for the team to announce he had suffered a meniscus injury in his left knee, an ailment without a clear timeline for a return.

For a top prospect with an NBA future, there may be little incentive for Garland to return to the Commodores at all, should it even be an option.

Vanderbilt has no easy way to replace Garland’s production. In just five games (including the two minutes he played before his injury Friday), the point guard averaged 16.2 points and 2.6 assists per game. If just one of his 3-point misses turned into a make, he’d be shooting better than .500 from deep.

In Friday’s loss to Kent State – not a terrible loss, mind you – sophomore Maxwell Evans took on the bulk of Garland’s missing minutes. He closed the contest with eight points and four boards in 21 minutes.

But he only played in three of four games prior to Friday and didn’t cross the ten-minute threshold in any of them. His elevation is ultimately a loss for the Commodores.

What nobody can bring to the team is a level of excitement and anticipation that sprouted concurrently with Garland’s arrival on campus.

247 Sports

listed Garland

as one of the top 15 recruits in the Class of 2018. Since 2000, there’s only been one recruit ranked higher than Garland to go to Vandy – fellow Class of 2018 star

Simisola Shittu

.

Shittu still provides plenty of hope, but it was Shittu and Garland together that warranted an eighth-place finish in the conference’s preseason poll and a seventh-place finish in our preseason power rankings.

There are several games against power schools left on the non-conference schedule, including a game against a ranked Kansas State squad right before Christmas. Then, the realities of SEC play will set in.

Without Darius Garland, Vanderbilt will struggle to claw their way back to the NCAA Tournament.