Fansided

Vanderbilt guard Darius Garland out for the season after knee surgery

By Brad Berreman

Mandatory Credit: Cassy Athena/Getty Images
Mandatory Credit: Cassy Athena/Getty Images /
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After suffering a knee injury a few days ago, Vanderbilt guard Darius Garland will miss the rest of the season.

Depending on what site’s rankings you’re looking at, Darius Garland was either the No. 1 or No. 2 point guard in the 2018 recruiting class and  he was a top-20 overall prospect. But the Nashville native chose to stay home, choosing Vanderbilt over Kentucky, Indiana and UCLA.

Through the first four games of the season he was as advertised, averaging 19.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game while making nearly 48 percent of his 3-pointers.

But Garland went down with a left knee injury early in last Friday’s game against Kent State. After initially be declared out indefinitely, on Tuesday coach Bryce Drew announced Garland has already undergone surgery to fix a meniscus issue and will miss the rest of the season.

“Darius had a very successful surgery and will be better than ever when he returns,” Drew said in a program-issued release. “Unfortunately, he will be out for the remainder of this season.”

Garland is projected as a lottery pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, but as long as his medicals check out his stock may not be greatly impacted. Nearly seven months out from draft night, Garland’s knee should be fine by the time NBA teams have to really evaluate him.

Vanderbilt is 4-1 this season, with a narrow loss to Kent State after Garland went down, and 5-1 can be pretty much be booked Tuesday night at home against Savannah State.

The non-conference schedule gets tougher after that though, with NC State on Saturday followed by Middle Tennessee (Dec. 5), Arizona State (Dec. 17) and Kansas State (Dec. 22).

Tennessee State (Dec. 29) and UNC Asheville (Dec. 31) are winnable games before conference play starts Jan. 5 against Ole Miss.

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Besides Garland, forward/center Simi Shittu and guard Aaron Nesmith are two other top-100 recruits Drew secured in this year’s class.

And the SEC is not so strong that the Commodores can’t win at least nine or 10 games in conference play with a solid remaining roster, and still make a push for an NCAA Tournament bid without their best player.