NC State basketball loses forward Ernest Ross to season-ending injury
Just when he was getting into the rotation, Ernest Ross will be a spectator the remainder of the year.
Ninety minutes before tip-off against Virginia Tech, the school announced that Ross will miss the rest of the season. He has a fractured ankle and will have surgery on Friday.
Ross (6-9, 180) missed the Duke game and was on the bench with a boot on his foot.
“I just feel awful for Ernest,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “When it first occurred, we were hopeful that it was just a sprain and that we could get him back in a couple of weeks, but unfortunately x-rays revealed a fracture. It’s a tough ending to his freshman season.
A native of Alachua, Fla., Ross appeared in 14 games for the Wolfpack (9-9, 2-5). In four of the last five contests, Ross has seen his minutes increase, including a season-high 18 at Louisville on Jan. 12.
“Ernest has really locked in over the last month,” Keatts said. “We’ve been able to see in practices and in games that everything was slowing down for him, that he was gaining confidence in his understanding of what we do offensively and defensively. He’d earned his spot in the rotation and had played some big minutes for us in crunch time of both of our ACC wins. It’s a big loss for us and everybody will need to step up.”
Ross scored a career-high five points at Miami on Dec. 29. His rebounding and overall athleticism got him more and more minutes to spell starting forward Ebenezer Dowuona. Now Ross joins the list of bigs who won’t be able to contribute for Keatts this season. Junior center Manny Bates played less than a minute of the 2021-22 season before injuring his shoulder, which required surgery. Transfer forward Greg Gantt has not played at all this year for the Wolfpack.
Keatts is down to Dowuona and sophomore Jaylon Gibson as available post players.
