Gophers' leading scorer Jamison Battle undergoes foot surgery
Just 10 days before opening the 2022-23 men's basketball season, the Gophers announced that leading scorer Jamison Battle underwent foot surgery on Friday.
"University of Minnesota men's basketball junior forward Jamison Battle underwent a successful minor foot surgery today and is listed as week-to-week following the procedure," the announcement says.
It's unclear why the surgery was needed, but a week-to-week status means it's possible that Battle isn't ready to play when Minnesota hosts Western Michigan in the season opener on Monday, Nov. 7.
Battle led the Gophers with 17.5 points and 6.5 rebounds last season, including 11 games when he scored 20+ points.
He was named a preseason All-Big Ten player recently and earlier this week was put on the 2023 Julius Ervin Award top 20 watch list for the nation's best small forwards.
If Battle misses two weeks, he's in danger of missing the opener and the second game Nov. 11 against St. Francis. If he's out for three weeks he'd likely miss the DePaul game on Nov. 14 and the Nov. 17 game against Central Michigan.
Minnesota plays California Baptist Nov. 21 before the schedule gets tough with Virginia Tech Nov. 28 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, followed by the beginning of Big Ten play in December.
Related: Gophers get commitment from 5-star center Dennis Evans
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.