This story was last updated January 11 at 5:09 p.m.
Vanderbilt sophomore forward Aaron Nesmith is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his foot and will likely miss the remainder of the 2019-2020 college basketball season, per sources close to the team.
The news comes just two days after Nesmith, who leads the SEC in scoring with 23.0 points per game, played 39 minutes in a loss at Auburn. He will seek a second opinion from a doctor, per sources.
In the postgame press conference following Vanderbilt’s 69-50 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday, Head Coach Jerry Stackhouse confirmed the initial reports.
“A lot of different circumstances happened over the last 24 hours; the main one being Aaron figuring out that his season is probably over,” Stackhouse said of his star. “It was a tough blow understanding that our leader and our best player, who has been a huge part of what we have done so far, is probably no longer going to be with us.”
According to Stackhouse, Nesmith sustained the injury multiple weeks ago and was able to play through the initial discomfort.
“He was having some pain and discomfort,” Stackhouse said. “They took an X-ray a few weeks ago, a couple weeks ago, when he did something to his ankle. They saw a little something there but it wasn’t a main concern and then now it was like, lets just be sure, and they go in to be sure and they found that it was more than what it needed to be.”
Aaron Nesmith (right) sported a walking boot and a scooter ahead of Saturday’s matchup with Texas A&M.
This marks the second consecutive year in which Vanderbilt’s leading scorer and top NBA prospect suffered a potential season-ending injury. Former Commodore point guard Darius Garland missed all but five games in the 2018-2019 season with a torn meniscus.
Nesmith currently ranks fifth in the nation in scoring and first in made threes per game, hitting 4.3 per contest at a mark of 52.2 percent. He has been projected as an NBA first round draft pick, as high as 14th overall in mock drafts. Nesmith’s injury, coupled with the injury of forward Clevon Brown, gives Vanderbilt just eight scholarship players on the active roster.
News of Nesmith’s injury was also posted on VandySports.com and later retracted.
