Auburn senior Lior Berman suffered torn ACL against Mississippi State, will miss remainder of the year

AUBURN, Ala. (WHNT) — Auburn senior guard Lior Berman will not return this season after suffering a torn ACL in Saturday’s game against Mississippi State, the program confirmed Sunday morning.

Berman suffered the injury when driving to the basket in the Tigers’ 78-63 win and was in visible pain while trainers helped him to the locker room. The injury likely ends Berman’s college career.

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“Our heart truly breaks for Lior. He has made a huge impact in this program resulting in historical success over the last five years,” said Tigers Head Coach Bruce Pearl. “At a time when he had worked his way into a major role on this year’s team, the Lord had a different plan. I promise you, Lior’s faith and conviction will allow him to pursue his dream of playing professionally next year in Israel. Our team may have won a game yesterday, but we suffered a huge loss.”

After the game, Pearl said he hated that Berman got hurt because of how well he had been playing.

“Man, he’s been playing really well,” Pearl said of Berman after the game. “I’m just so disappointed for him because he knew that we were very committed to him being in the rotation for the rest of the year.”

Berman is a senior from Birmingham and is in his fifth and final season with the program. He spent the majority of his Auburn career as a walk-on after coming to the Tigers from Mountian Brook High School where he was a three-time state champion.

Despite being a walk-on, Berman cracked into the Tigers’ rotation in the 2021-2022 season and has been a mainstay off the bench ever since. His consistent play earned him a scholarship before this season.

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Fellow senior Jaylin Williams shared his reaction to the news on X, formerly known as Twitter, Williams suffered a scary-looking knee injury this season as well against Kentucky but avoided a serious injury, and only missed one game.

Auburn will now have to adjust their bench rotation for the remainder of the season and be without one of their veteran players. The Tigers are back in action on Tuesday against Missouri. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m.

The Tigers will then close out the regular season at home against Georgia on Saturday. Before the game, Auburn will honor Berman and other seniors for senior night.

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