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Virginia's junior guard Justin Anderson will be out for four to six weeks with a fractured finger on his left hand, head coach Tony Bennett announced tonight after Virginia's 52-47 win over No. 9 Louisville. Anderson is expected to undergo surgery on Sunday, February 8.
As Caroline put it, "when winning feels like losing."
The 6'6" guard suffered the hand injury late in the first half, and spend the entirety of the second half in warmups at the end of the bench with his fingers taped up. This is the southpaw's shooting hand.
"We've got one of the finest hand surgeons in the country in Dr. [Bobby] Chhabra," Bennett reassured the media following the game.
Anderson had a fairly quiet first half even before the injury. He went 0-3 from beyond the arc (the team as a whole only went 2-14), but the two points he did make, boy did he make his presence known and felt in John Paul Jones Arena:
Coming into tonight's game, Anderson was the team's leading scorer, averaging 13.9 points per game. He also led the ACC in three-point shooting percentage at an impressive 50.0%. He also put up 4.3 rebounds per game.
"I think [losing Anderson] shows how mature and well rounded our team is, and it shows that we are really a team," Malcolm Brogdon said after the game. "It's not just one person, it's not just two guys; everybody contributes and everybody plays their role to the fullest so that we can be successful."
There are four more weeks to the regular season, so it looks as though at a minimum, pending how surgery and recovery go, Anderson will be sitting out for the remainder of that time. The ACC Tournament is the following week, Week 5, and the NCAA Tournament will start the weekend after. On the longer end of the projected recovery time, Anderson is looking to be out until the Sweet 16 / Elite 8 round, should Virginia advance that far.
Virginia returns to action without their star asset on Wednesday, February 11 against NC State on the road. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.