Gophers lose Isaiah Ihnen to season-ending injury for second year in a row

Head coach Ben Johnson had high hopes for Ihnen this season.
Gophers lose Isaiah Ihnen to season-ending injury for second year in a row
Gophers lose Isaiah Ihnen to season-ending injury for second year in a row /

Brutal. There's no other way to describe the season-ending injury suffered by Minnesota Gophers forward Isaiah Ihnen. 

Just over a year since suffering a torn ACL in his left knee that ended his 2021-22 season, Ihnen has suffered another major injury to the same knee that has ended his 2022-23 season.

"It's disappointing to see Isaiah go through this after he worked hard to get back on the court this year and made significant strides to his game this summer," head coach Ben Johnson said. "We will be with him every step of the way in his road to recovery."

Ihnen was expected to be a key player this season for the Gophers. In late May, Johnson was a guest on ex-Vikings linebacker Ben Leber's podcast and raved about Ihnen, saying he had potential to be the best defensive player in the Big Ten. 

"There's a lot of guys at the next level that look like [Ihnen]," Johnson said. "You can't find 6'10'' with 7'+ wingspan that moves like a guard. You just don't find that all the time. But the ones you do find, they're the ones on TV."

Minnesota also recently lost forward Parker Fox to a season-ending injury for a second consecutive year. 


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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.