IU Coach Tom Crean announced Monday sophomore guard Robert Johnson, junior forward Collin Hartman and freshman forward Juwan Morgan will all undergo surgery in the coming weeks.
Crean announced this on The Ride with JMV, a daily radio show hosted by John Michael Vincent on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis.
“We have three guys who have to have surgery here in the next few weeks,” Crean said on the radio show. “That’s a level of toughness that these guys are carrying around and I’m unbelievably proud to be part of it with them.”
Johnson will undergo surgery to repair an ankle injury originally suffered Feb. 20 in a 77-73 win against Purdue. He missed the final three games of the regular season as well as IU’s opening Big Ten Tournament loss against Michigan.
Johnson returned to play March 17 in IU’s first round NCAA Tournament win against Chattanooga. Johnson didn’t return to the starting lineup though — he played 24 minutes off the bench.
He also came off the bench March 19 in IU’s second round NCAA Tournament win against Kentucky. He lasted 10 minutes before reaggravating his ankle injury in the first half.
Johnson then had to miss IU’s Sweet 16 loss against North Carolina last Friday after IU doctors and trainers determined he couldn’t play.
The day before the game, and in the locker room after the loss, Johnson said he wanted to play.
“The Johnson injury really hurt us, especially after he came back in the tournament, was playing well and then got hurt again,” Crean said. “There was just no way he could really at the end of the day push off his foot enough to play any kind of minutes.”
Hartman will have surgery to repair an injured wrist he suffered in IU’s Big Ten Tournament loss against Michigan. Crean said Hartman played the last three weeks of the season with a fractured wrist. He still started all three of IU’s NCAA Tournament games while wearing a heavy brace.
Hartman did show limitations initially with his jump shot, but in the North Carolina loss he attempted a handful of jump shots and made a 3-pointer.
The final Hoosier undergoing surgery is Morgan, who will repair his injured left shoulder. Morgan has been fighting shoulder injuries since high school.
His shoulder popped out of its socket a number of times this season — the first time was during the Purdue loss Feb. 20.
It popped out in IU’s win against Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament when he went up for a rebound, forcing him to miss much of the second half.
In IU’s season-ending loss against North Carolina, Morgan said the shoulder popped out of its socket twice, but both times he had the trainers pop it back into place on the bench before returning to the game.
