Nik Khamenia won’t be on the floor when UConn meets Duke later this month, and that removes one of the more intriguing personal angles from the matchup.
The former Blue Devil injured his left foot during the first half of UConn’s 83-41 home win over Wagner on Monday night. On Thursday evening, the program announced that the 19-year-old will need surgery and is expected to miss several weeks.
“Nik will have surgery in the coming days and is expected to make a full recovery,” two-time national champion head coach Dan Hurley noted in his statement released on social media. “He will be reevaluated in 6-8 weeks.”
That timeline makes it a sure thing Khamenia will be sidelined for the Huskies’ game against Duke in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Nov. 25. The meeting had already carried extra weight because Khamenia transferred from Duke to UConn in early April, then quickly became a starter for the 3-0 Huskies.
Before the injury, he had opened this season averaging 10.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 18.7 minutes per game over three outings as a starter. Those numbers, though, were inflated by the fact that he had to leave Monday’s game early.
Khamenia’s path from Durham to Storrs came after he played in all 38 games for Duke’s 35-3 team last season, putting up 5.7 points in 19.8 minutes per game, mostly as a reserve. Less than two weeks after entering the transfer portal, he chose UConn.
His Duke connection also reaches back to March 29, when he posted seven points, two rebounds, one assist and one block in 22 minutes during the Blue Devils’ 73-72 Elite Eight loss to UConn in Washington, D.C. He was on the bench in the final 10 seconds when Braylon Mullins, now his teammate and roommate in Storrs, hit the three that finished Duke.
Duke and UConn are both working through their current schedules before that late-November meeting. Duke, ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25 Poll but likely to fall at least a couple of spots after Tuesday night’s 79-73 loss to No.
5 Michigan State at the Champions Classic in Chicago, hosts SIU Edwardsville at 8 p.m. ET Friday.
The Blue Devils also have No. 3 Illinois coming to Durham at 7 p.m.
ET Tuesday, then Washington State in Palm Desert, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21.
UConn, ranked No. 4, plays Ohio State in Hartford at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday and then faces No.
12 Arizona on the road at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday before the Duke game.
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