BYU coach Kevin Young thought Dawson Baker was going to be a key part of a deep NCAA Tournament run this year.
Instead, the shooting guard is out for the season.
Baker tore his ACL in a game against Miami on Thanksgiving, he said.
“My body has been tested and tried at BYU. This will now be my fifth time starting everything over,” Baker wrote in a social media post.
Baker is in his sixth season of college basketball, and third at BYU. He played in 36 games last year, averaging 7.5 points per game as BYU went to the Sweet 16.
This year, Young lobbied Baker to stay in Provo to anchor BYU’s bench. In six games, he played nearly 20 minutes a night and averaged 7.5 points.
Without Baker, BYU’s bench production becomes much more precarious. In the Cougars’ first game after Baker’s injury, BYU did not get a single point from the bench.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about it,” Young said. “Dawson has been great for us. But guys will step up. On the perimeter, I have a lot of confidence in Tyler [Mrus] and Dominique [Diomande] and Aleksej [Kostic]. He doesn’t miss a shot in practice. We are going to have to drip feed him in the [rotation].”