Gophers junior forward Parker Fox, who recovered from a season-ending knee injury last year, will miss the 2022-23 season with a right knee injury, the team announced Wednesday.
The 6-8, 220-pound former Division II All-America suffered a torn ACL in Monday's summer workout during a non-contact play. Fox tore his left ACL and MCL in March 2021 but made a full recovery.
Fox, a Mahtomedi native, led Northern State (S.D.) and the country in dunks and blocks in 2020-21 and was expected to compete for a starting frontcourt role next season.
In March 2021, Fox's previous knee injury happened before he committed to the Gophers, but he made a full recovery in nine months to return to practice at the end of last season.
"You feel for him that he was put in this position because I saw the work he put in last year," Johnson said Tuesday. "Every day being there for his teammates and every day doing everything to get back and get better."
Newcomers Dawson Garcia (North Carolina transfer) and Pharrel Payne (top local freshman recruit) are expected to help Battle in the frontcourt.
The Gophers return one starter from the 2021-22 team with leading scorer and rebounder Jamison Battle. Fox and junior forward Isaiah Ihnen both were participating in summer workouts after sitting out last season with knee injuries.
Fox's expected to have surgery soon to start the recovery process, which could be 6-9 months based on last season's timeline.
