Ole Miss freshman Karlis Silins out for season with torn ACL

Published 7:18 pm Thursday, December 15, 2016

An injury has cost Ole Miss’ men’s basketball team one of its bigs.

Freshman forward Karlis Silins tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season, it was announced before the Rebels’ game against Murray State on Thursday. The tallest available player on the roster at 6-foot-11, Silins didn’t play in Ole Miss’ 80-75 loss at Virginia Tech on Sunday after injuring his left knee in practice.

Head coach Andy Kennedy said Wednesday he was unsure of the severity of the injury, but an MRI revealed the tear.

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Silins, a native of Latvia, played just 39 minutes this season and averaged 0.5 points and 0.6 rebounds a game, but it’s a hit to the Rebels’ frontcourt depth behind Sebastian Saiz, Marcanvis Hymon and Justas Furmanavicius.

Fellow freshman Nate Morris could see his role increase as a result. The 6-9 Morris was recently reinstated to the team after being suspended for an unspecified violation of team rules, getting his first minutes of the season against Virginia Tech.

Drake transfer Dominik Olejniczak, a 7-footer, is sitting out this season to fulfill NCAA transfer rules.