Norika Konno remains out indefinitely
Norika Konno continues to be sidelined with a knee injury.
The freshman for Louisville women’s basketball hasn’t played since Jan. 16 against Boston College. Louisville coach Jeff Walz said the 5-foot-10 guard visited the doctor for a follow up Feb. 19 and remains out indefinitely.
Walz expects to know in a few days what Konno’s path to recovery will be.
“I’m not extremely optimistic that we will be able to get her back for this year,” Walz said. “Hopefully we can get things taken care of where we can get her on the mend and get back for next year because we could have really used her.”
Konno, who arrived in Louisville from Sendai, Japan, averaged 15.1 minutes per game and shot 40.8 percent from the field prior to the injury. Walz said Konno has a full range of motion, but that she can’t stop and start.
Walz said Konno’s mindset has remained great through the injury. She has been supportive at practices and cheers on her teammates during games.
“You come this far from home, you want the opportunity to play basketball, unfortunately, she has been sidelined for a while with this injury,” Walz said.
Konno played a career-high 26 minutes in Louisville’s season opener against Western Kentucky, finishing with nine points. She scored a career-high 11 points and added four assists against Chattanooga in November.
Konno had 30 assists in 16 games for Louisville.
The shooting guard was a member of the U18 and U19 Japanese National Teams prior to her college career at Louisville.
