Auburn basketball experienced a brief injury scare in the second half of Sunday’s Elite Eight game vs. No. 2 seed Michigan State.
At the 10:47 mark of the second half at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Tigers star forward Johni Broome appeared to sustain an elbow and leg injury.
The injuries came at the basket at the end of a play where Michigan State’s Freddie Fidler missed a layup inside the paint. Broome immediately went down on the floor and appeared to have fallen into an awkward position on his left leg.
Broome, whose wrist was treated by Auburn medical staff moments before the nasty fall, was immediately brought back to the Tigers locker room for further testing.
As Broome was walking off the court, he was seen walking gingerly.
Here’s the latest injury updates on Broome:
What is Johni Broome’s injury?
Broome appeared to injure his left leg and his right elbow on his fall in the second half against Michigan State.
Though Broome returned to the game, and got a rebound and made a 3-pointer upon his return, Broome was seen favoring his left arm late in the game and was not using his right to get rebounds. Broome’s x-rays were negative, per CBS’ Tracy Wolfson, but the full extent of his injuries were unknown in-game.
Johni Broome injury updates
Broome exited the Tigers’ Elite Eight game vs. Michigan State with apparent elbow and leg injuries. He had his elbow wrapped up in ice during Auburn’s postgame news conference with the media in Atlanta.
CBS’ Tracy Wolfson reported that Broome told Auburn coach Bruce Pearl that he couldn’t push through it as he headed to the locker room for further testing.
‘As you mentioned Ian, Johni Broome is dealing with those two injuries. He is in the locker room right now. Bruce Pearl asked Johni as he was walking off the court if he was okay and he looked at him and said no. He told his teammates to finish the game.’
After being looked at in the locker room, Broome checked back into the game at the 5:29 mark of the second half and secured a rebound and hit a 3-pointer in quick succession. Wolfson later reported that Broome’s X-rays were negative in the locker room.
Broome, who hit a 3-pointer on his first shot back, gave a thumbs up to CBS broadcasters Grant Hill and Bill Rafferty during teammate Denver Jones’ free throw attempts to acknowledge that he is all right.
Johni Broome comments on injury
Broome said postgame that once he learned he was cleared to return, he wanted to so he ‘can help his teammates.’
‘Went to the locker room. We have a good support staff. I checked my arm out. The (doctor) said nothing is wrong with it (or) anything serious, so at that moment I just wanted to help my teammates. And that is coming out and playing,’ Broome said.
Bruce Pearl comments on Johni Broome injury
Pearl told reporters that he did not receive a diagnosis from the team’s doctors on Broome’s injury when he came out of the locker room. He then said that Auburn won’t know the actual extent of Broome’s injury until tomorrow, but is expecting his elbow to be ‘pretty sore.’
‘I didn’t get any diagnosis. When Johni came out of the locker room, I had not talked to the doctor. But I asked him (Broome) if he is good to go and he said, ‘I am,” Pearl said.
He added: ‘I don’t think we are going to really know until tomorrow whether it was a slight hyperextension or whatever that way. Obviously the doctors were able to examine it and determine there was no damage. I bet it will be pretty sore tomorrow though.’
This story has been updated with new information
