Auburn's Okeke leaves game with 'serious' knee injury

Auburn sophomore forward Chuma Okeke left the Tigers' NCAA Tournament Midwest Region semifinal game against North Carolina on Friday night with a left knee injury with a little more than eight minutes remaining in the game.

Shortly thereafter, he was ruled out for the remainder of the game in Kansas City, Mo., and scheduled for on-site tests.

After the game, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl choked up discussing Okeke's injury, composed himself and said, "Bittersweet because of Chuma's injury. ... We're going to rally."

"It's a knee injury. We don't know the extent, but we think it could be serious," Pearl said a few minutes later.

Okeke sustained the injury when his left knee buckled under his own weight while driving to the basket.

Okeke was called for traveling on the play. He laid on the floor for a few minutes while the crowd watched silently and trainers tended to him. After he made it to his feet, he was hugged by several North Carolina players before being helped past the Auburn bench, off the court and into the locker room.

Okeke was leading Auburn in scoring, with 20 points, and rebounds, with 11, when he left the game. The third-seeded Tigers were up 76-62 on the top-seeded Tar Heels at the time, and finished off the upset 97-80.

He is Auburn's third-leading scorer on the season with 11.8 points per game. He leads the Tigers with 6.7 rebounds per contest.

--Field Level Media