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Notre Dame Basketball: Injury bug hits Irish as Pflueger goes down

By Mychal Hunter

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 04: Rex Pflueger #0 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts after fouling during the second half of the game against Oklahoma Sooners at Madison Square Garden on December 04, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 04: Rex Pflueger #0 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts after fouling during the second half of the game against Oklahoma Sooners at Madison Square Garden on December 04, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame basketball seems to have been hit by the injury bug, as both Robby Carmody and Rex Pflueger have most likely been lost for the season. 

The Notre Dame men’s basketball team landed a really nice win on Saturday, defeating Purdue on a neutral court 88-80.

Purdue was #14 in the KenPom rankings coming into the game and represented Notre Dame’s last chance to get another quality out of conference win before the ACC slate gets started in a couple weeks.

While the win is nice, it came with a price. Senior guard Rex Pflueger, who had been coming around in the last few games after a sluggish start, is feared to have been lost for season with a torn ACL. I first saw the news come from Notre Dame Insider Tom Noie.

Pflueger had come alive over the past few weeks, averaging 10.3 points,  5.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists and a couple steals over the last four games. He had also shot 8-12 from deep during that span and 57% overall from the field. He had compiled 7 points and 10 assists in the Purdue game before leaving.

This comes on the heels of freshman forward Robby Carmody deciding to take a medical red-shirt and sit out the rest of the season while he recovers from shoulder surgery.

https://twitter.com/robbycarmody24/status/1073673683430973440

It may feel like deja vu for Irish fans, but the good news is that the Irish were still able to close out the Purdue game despite the injury. If you would like some more good news, freshman Dane Goodwin had a fantastic game against Purdue. He came off the bench to play 25 minutes and scored a career high 12 points while snagging 4 rebounds. Dane is the most likely beneficiary of the recent string of injuries suffered by the Irish.

Luckily, Notre Dame is incredibly deep on the wing if not loaded with experience. Nikola Djogo, who has played sparingly this season, did average roughly 16 minutes per game last season.

Next. Irish take down Purdue. dark

It should be noted that the news about Pflueger is yet to be confirmed. If you combine Noie’s tweet with Coach Brey’s “it doesn’t look good” comment, there is certainly cause for concern, but it is yet to be official.