New Mexico guard JaQuan Lyle will miss the 2018-19 season after rupturing his achilles, the team confirmed on Sunday.
Lyle and head coach Paul Weir each released statements:
Here are statements from New Mexico coach Paul Weir and JaQuan Lyle on the season-ending Lyle injury. Again, I cannot emphasize how devastating it is for a program which I believe was a fringe Top 25 team. Best wishes to the kid in his recovery pic.twitter.com/V1MyIIQ2Jg
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) October 1, 2018
Lyle is a redshirt junior who transferred from Ohio State and sat out last season. He averaged 11.4 points and 4.6 assists per game, while hitting 41 percent of his three-point attempts for the Buckeyes in 2016-17.
With the season just weeks away, this is a significant blow for a Lobos team that was expected to contend in the top third of the Mountain West. Lyle was a five-star recruit at Ohio State and was expected to be a key piece to a guard-powered Lobo offense. New Mexico averaged 82.2 points per game last year, and with Lyle and Vance Jackson coming in, the team was poised to be one of the most fun on the west coast.
Fortunately for Weir, New Mexico still has plenty of talent at guard with Anthony Mathis anchoring a backcourt that also includes Jackson, wing Makuach Maluach, and promising rookie Drue Drinnon.
The Lobos open their season Nov. 6 at Cal State Northridge.