Western Kentucky basketball loses its star center for rest of the season

Western Kentucky sophomore center Charles Bassey will miss the rest of the season after injuring his left knee in Saturday’s overtime win against previously unbeaten Arkansas.

The school announced Monday that the 6-foot-11, 230-pound Bassey has a tibial plateau fracture. According to a news release, Bassey will undergo surgery on Tuesday in Houston with the team physicians for the NFL’s Houston Texans and NBA’s Houston Rockets.

Bassey’s recovery time is expected to be about six to nine months, WKU said.

Bassey had averaged 15.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, all team highs, for the Hilltoppers (7-3) this season. The Lagos, Nigeria, native had 10 points and six rebounds when he left the Arkansas game, and WKU managed to prevail 86-79 without him.

“I’m awful proud of our guys,” WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said after the Arkansas victory. “I thought we showed a lot of grit and a lot of toughness. We were down late in that game after we’d lost Charles. You could very easily let some emotion leave your body, but we didn’t do it. I thought our guys took their emotion to another level.”

Last season, Bassey was named Conference USA Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged 14.6 points and 10.0 rebounds.

This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 1:52 PM.