Texas Tech transfer Fardaws Aimaq suffers foot injury during workout, return unknown
The Texas Tech men's basketball team could be without an expected key component at the beginning of the season.
Utah Valley transfer Fardaws Aimaq, a 6-foot-11 center, is expected to miss practice time due to a foot injury sustained during a workout earlier in the week, Tech announced Thursday.
“Texas Tech senior Fardaws Aimaq suffered a foot injury during a workout earlier this week,” Tech's statement said. “He is expected to make a full recovery and return for the season. There is no timetable on how long he will be out of practice.”
Tech issued the statement about an hour after CBS Sports college basketball writer Jon Rothstein reported Aimaq is expected to miss several months with a broken foot, citing unnamed sources. In a text exchange with The Avalanche-Journal after Rothstein's report, a Tech athletics spokesman declined to give more specifics about Aimaq's injury, citing confidentiality of medical information.
Texas Tech begins preseason practice on Monday. Red Raiders coach Mark Adams did not mention an injury to Aimaq when he spoke to media earlier Thursday.
”Really pleased with the progress of this team," Adams said, "but we got some nagging injuries here and there. But for the most part we’re healthy."
Aimaq played the past two seasons at Utah Valley, where he was a two-time first-team all-Western Athletic Conference honoree and the WAC defensive player of the year both seasons.
He averaged 18.9 points, 13.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per game last season, when Utah Valley finished 20-12. His 27 double-doubles for the Wolverines were tied for the most in the nation with Oscar Tschiebwe, the national player of the year from Kentucky.
He was named the WAC player of the year in 2020-21 after he averaged 13.9 points and a nation-leading 15.0 rebounds per game.
Aimaq played high-school ball at Steveston-London Secondary School in Richmond, British Columbia, and started his college career at Mercer.
Adams said freshman guard Richard ”Pop” Isaacs is expected to be back and able to participate when the Red Raiders start practice Monday. Isaacs underwent hip surgery over the summer and has been rehabilitating with the expectation of playing in the first regular-season game.
“He worked extremely hard in his rehab and he’s back three weeks earlier than we projected,” Adams said.
Adams also said guard Ethan Duncan is considering whether to stay with the program, given the depth at the guard position.
Aimaq was expected to solidify Texas Tech on the offensive end, and aid Kevin Obanor when it came to rebounding as well with his size and speed. Adams felt as though Aimaq could fill the void left by Bryson Williams, who averaged a team-high 14.1 points per game last season, his last year of eligibility.
“It makes our team unique with two guys — two 7-footers — that we can do things with on both ends of the floor," Adams said. "Certainly, they can help us on the defensive end. But, especially with a guy like Fardaws, who can shoot the 3 — a lot like Bryson (Williams last year) — and we can stretch the defense.”
The status of a key Texas Tech men's basketball player is up in the air days before the Red Raiders' first preseason practice.
Tech announced Thursday that Fardaws Aimaq, a former Western Athletic Conference player of the year at Utah Valley, suffered a foot injury during a workout earlier this week. Aimaq is expected to make a full recovery and return for the season, Tech said, adding that there is no timetable on how long he will be out of practice.
Aimaq, a 6-foot-11 center, played the past two seasons at Utah Valley, where he was a two-time first-team all-Western Athletic Conference honoree and the WAC defensive player of the year both seasons.
Tech begins preseason practice on Monday. Red Raiders coach Mark Adams did not mention an injury to Aimaq when he spoke to media earlier Thursday. After the report, a Tech athletics spokesman said in a text exchange with The Avalanche-Journal that the department would not release medical information regarding a player.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech transfer Fardaws Aimaq suffers foot injury during workout, return unknown
