St. John's loses Imran Suljanovic to injury
Red Storm coach Rick Pitino will have to do without freshman Imran Suljanovic who suffered a dislocated patella tendon in practice. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Imran Suljanovic’s freshman season at St. John’s is over before it even started.
The 6-8 wing from Austria, who was sought for his skills as an outside shooter, suffered a dislocated patella tendon during practice on Thursday after the team's on-campus media day and will have season-ending surgery Tuesday, the school announced. The recovery period for the procedure is four to five months, according to the announcement.
Suljanovic had been envisioned as a role player off the bench this season for the fifth-ranked Red Storm, who will play their first exhibition game against Towson on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena.
Suljanovic had a different knee injury that sidelined him for about two months, forcing him to miss a lot of St. John’s summer workouts, and had returned to practice only about two weeks ago.
He looked rusty on his fourth day back with the team when it held an intrasquad scrimmage at the Garden on Oct. 8.
Asked at media day how he is doing with building back his endurance, Suljanovic replied, “I am getting there, but I feel good . . . and [am] happy to be practicing.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
