Chuma Okeke’s ACL tear a heartbreaking loss for Auburn

Auburn will be without Chuma Okeke for the rest of the NCAA Tournament after he tore his ACL in the win vs. North Carolina.

Confirming the worst fears, Chuma Okeke tore his left ACL vs. North Carolina and will miss the rest of Auburn’s run in the NCAA Tournament.

Stadium’s Shams Charania first reported the news of the sophomore forward’s injury.

Okeke went down with the non-contact injury in the second half and was down on the court in pain for minutes. It came during Auburn’s run vs. No. 1 seed North Carolina when the Tigers sank 17-of-37 3-point attempts and on a game when Okeke was having a career night.

The 6-8 forward from Atlanta scored 20 points and had 11 rebounds in 25 minutes before leaving with the injury. His loss will have a tremendous impact on Auburn who plays Kentucky in the Elite Eight on Sunday with the winner going to the Final Four. This is the first Elite Eight for Auburn since 1986. That’s what makes this injury that much more heartbreaking. It’s emotional enough when a player gets hurt, but when it’s in a program-defining win in the NCAA Tournament to an ascending player, it’s a punch to the gut.

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl was brought to tears discussing the Okeke injury and how much he hurts that he won’t be able to have this moment of playing in the Elite Eight and potentially more, in his postgame interview with CBS.

In the victorious locker room, Okeke was held up by his teammates as he had the official honors of stamping Auburn in the Elite Eight of the bracket. It was an emotional scene and while the victory was arguably the biggest in program history, knowing Okeke was seriously hurt kept the players and coaches measured.

Know that what they feared is confirmed, the Tigers can put their full attention on matching up with PJ Washington and Kentucky with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Not having Okeke for that individual matchup looms large. Washington returned from a sprained foot that kept him out of the first two rounds and scored 16 off the bench in the win vs. Houston.

Auburn and Kentucky (-4.5) tip at 2:20 p.m. ET on CBS.