Indiana sophomore Christian Watford, the Hoosiers leading scorer, will be out indefinitely with a hand injury that required surgery. IU's media release:
Indiana University sophomore Christian Watford is out indefinitely with a broken left hand suffered Sunday in an 84-83 overtime loss at Michigan State. He underwent surgery today. He is the team’s leading scorer and is eighth in the conference averaging 17.0 points. He is sixth in the conference in free throw percentage (83.5) making 111 of 133 charity tosses.
That doesn't sound like a minor injury. A couple of weeks ago, I laid out what I thought was a fairly compelling case for how limited IU's roster was. Since that time, IU has lost three of its top four scorers to injury. Maurice Creek is out for the rest of the season, Watford's injury certainly sounds as if it is of that nature, and no one really knows when Verdell Jones III will be back. To its credit, the remaining players have held their own despite the injuries: IU beat Illinois and took Michigan State to overtime without Jones and Creek. Still, at a certain point, the losses become too much for the roster to withstand. Watford was playing out of position in the first place, and now IU has to face the interior strength of Minnesota without him. Bombs away, Jordan Hulls and Matt Roth. I think you're our only hope. Very disappointing. We'll catch a break someday, right?