Gore Injures Knee, Out at Least Four Months

Last Tuesday, nearly 22 months after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a game against Northwestern, men’s basketball senior guard Adam Gore tore the same ligament in his other knee. While some estimates have him back as soon as January, there is no real timetable on his return. He will have surgery on Sept. 18.
[video:node=31564:fids=all] “I don’t necessarily expect him to come back, but the doctors said that if he works hard, four months from now is mid-January [and he could be back],” said head coach Steve Donahue. “It wouldn’t surprise me with how tough he is and how hard he works if Adam will be able to help us in the Ivy season.”
Gore, a relentless defender and sharpshooter, missed all but one game of the 2006-07 season. In the closing seconds of the Red’s season-opening win at Northwestern, Gore heard a pop in his knee. Although he was cleared after about four months to resume basketball activity, it took about half of the 2007-08 season before Gore seemed fully comfortable.
Donahue pointed to the fact that Gore essentially dropped all serious basketball activity for about nine months after the injury.
“If he’s healthy, we’re going to work him into things way quicker than we did last year,” Donahue said. “This will be different because he will be shooting and working out much sooner. I am concerned about how well the surgery heals and how well he can move on the leg.”[img_assist|nid=31558|title=Sharpshooter|desc=Senior guard Adam Gore (23) tore his left anterior cruciate ligament and will miss at least four months.|link=node|align=right|width=|height=0]
For his part, Gore plans to test his knee as soon as he can, hoping to be back for the Ivy League slate.
“[I want to] rehab basically as soon as I get out and start doing stuff as soon as my knee will let me,” Gore said. “That’s kind of an optimistic look at things, but I’m going try and do that.”
Gore, a former Ivy League Rookie of the Year, averaged 10.1 points per game last year. He picked up his play against Ivy competition, netting 12.1 points per contest and finishing second in both 3-point and free-throw percentage. His efforts earned him a spot on the All-Ivy second team — leaving a big hole to fill.
“We got some guys who are going to have to step up,” Gore said. “[Junior] Geoff Reeves will have to step up and play well and [freshman] Chris [Wroblewski] will get some playing time and will step into college ball and see what kind of adjustments he has to make. We have a lot of talent on this team. We’ll be fine.”
Reeves and senior co-captain Jason Battle got the most playing time rotating with Gore last year. Junior Andre Wilkins, senior co-captain Conor Mullen and junior Jon Jacques saw more limited minutes. Wroblewski, however, has been impressive thus far, according to Donahue.
“[Wroblewski] came from a program that really understands what it takes to win at the college level,” Donahue said of the Highland Park (Ill.) High School product. “He’s prepared.”
For now, all the team can do is keep working out until Oct. 15, the first day of official practice, rolls around.
“They’re a very close-knit group of guys and they feel for [Gore],” Donahue said. “As much as Adam doesn’t want to show it, he’s obviously extremely disappointed. It’s up to you as a good teammate to encourage him and be positive and help him through the next couple of months.”