Future Kansas University basketball player J.R. Giddens suffered a grade-two tear in his medial collateral ligament in his right knee on May 19 at an AAU basketball scrimmage in Denton, Texas, and will be sidelined for two to six weeks.
Giddens, a 6-foot-5 senior-to-be from John Marshall High in Oklahoma City, won’t need surgery. His mother, Dianna, says J.R. has his knee in a brace, but he still should be able to participate at the Nike All-America camp July 5-10 in Indianapolis. He’ll miss one AAU tournament.
“He was diving for a ball. He tipped his toe on the ball, slipped and hit his knee,” Dianna said. “It was one of the first plays in the game. He didn’t tell anyone. He had 17 points and seven rebounds and dunked on a 6-9 kid. After the game was over, he said, ‘Mom I’ve got to go to the hospital.'”
Giddens averaged 25.0 points and 7.2 boards per game his junior year. He verbally committed to KU in late April and is expected to sign with KU in November.