Virginia Guard Elijah Gertrude to Miss 2024-2025 Season With Knee Injury

Tony Bennett announced on Friday that rising second-year guard Elijah Gertrude underwent surgery to repair a knee he injured in a scooter accident

Elijah Gertrude jogs during the Virginia men's basketball game against Texas A&M at John Paul Jones Arena. / Virginia Athletics

Virginia men's basketball delivered some bad news on Friday, as Tony Bennett announced that sophomore guard Elijah Gertrude will miss the 2024-2025 season with a knee injury.

According to the UVA press release, Gertrude suffered an injury to his right knee back on April 30th in a scooter accident. The injury required surgery, which was performed successfully on May 17th.

“Elijah will miss the 2024-25 season after suffering a knee injury in an unfortunate accident,” Tony Bennett said. “He had a solid first season on Grounds and was off to a terrific start in our offseason workouts. Elijah’s surgery went well and he is already working hard on his rehabilitation.”

READ MORE: Virginia Basketball Signs Tony Bennett to Contract Extension Through 2030

This is a highly unfortunate turn of events for Gertrude, who missed his entire senior season in high school with an ACL injury. Gertrude worked his way back by the time his first year at UVA began and, after initially planning to redshirt the season, ended up burning his redshirt and appearing in 16 games as a true freshman, averaging 3.4 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. His best game came against NC Central, when Gertrude scored 13 points on 6/11 shooting in 17 minutes of action. Gertrude played in 10 ACC games and the NCAA Tournament game.

With Gertrude eligible for a medical redshirt for the 2024-2025 season, he'll still have three years of eligibility remaining when he returns.

Tony Bennett and the UVA coaching staff probably altered their transfer portal recruiting strategies when they learned of Gertrude's injury and it's likely that the addition of Kansas State guard Dai Dai Ames came as a direct result of the Cavaliers expecting to be without Gertrude next season.