Inside The Huskies

Huskies Lose Traore to Season-Ending Foot Injury

The big man from a Texas junior college and Maryland and New Mexico State was hurt in practice.
Dan Raley|
Mady Traore, left, has been lost for the basketball season with a foot injury, while Christian Nitu, right, is out temporarily.
Mady Traore, left, has been lost for the basketball season with a foot injury, while Christian Nitu, right, is out temporarily. | Dan Raley

Mady Traore, a 6-foot-11 big man from France and many previous college stops, has been lost to the University of Washington basketball team with a season-ending foot injury, coach Danny Sprinkle revealed on Tuesday.

Traore was hurt while practicing over the weekend when he came down and heard "a pop" and suffered a tendon injury, the Husky leader recounted.

While the UW has somewhat of a loaded roster for the coming season, with several players available who can play at center or as a power forward, Traore would have provided the Huskies with something a little different up front.

"He's probably the best athlete on our team, or would have been," Sprinkle said. "When you're talking about just running and jumping, he's a freak."

Traore wore a boot on his left foot and kneeled on a scooter while watching Tuesday's practice alongside 6-foot-11 Christian Nitu, a Florida State transfer and a Canada native.

Nitu similarly has a foot injury, but is expected back within a week, Sprinkle said.

He'll join the competition up front that involves 6-foot-11 senior holdover Franck Kepnang, 6-foot-10 sophomore Rutgers transfer Lathan Somerville and 6-foot-11 freshman Hannes Steinbach from Germany.

Traore actually could have as many as three seasons of eligibility remaining, according to his coach.

Mady Traore has been lost to the Huskies for the season.
Mady Traore has been lost to the Huskies for the season. | UW

As a freshman, he played in seven games and started one for a scandal-ridden New Mexico State team that didn't finish the 2021-22 season, with the Aggies caught up in hazing and allegations of sexual assault and gun possession.

Traore and others on that team had the season of eligibility restored to them by the NCAA.

In 2022-23, the Frenchman played in 12 games and started four for Maryland before going down with a knee injury. He could be able to claim a medical redshirt for that mishap.

Last season, he played for two-year Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas, and averaged 13.2 points and 8.4 rebounds for a playoff-bound team, finally putting in a full season of American college basketball.

The Huskies have big plans for Traore, a personable type who was seen chatting up a media member or two following practice, once they get him healthy.

"He's going to be a really good player here," Sprinkle said.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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