BIG TIM: Georgetown Center Timothy Ighoefe Out with Broken Hand

Well, the hits just keep coming, don’t they? The 6’11” junior for the Georgetown Hoyas, Timothy Ighoefe, had his hand injured with a hard foul in the win against the Longwood Lancers.

Patrick Ewing told the press that the hand is broken and that he had surgery to repair it. The time-table to return is typically 4-6 weeks. Hopefully it’s sooner if it is indeed his off hand.

Ighoefe missed the first game, hosting Dartmouth, but has started in all 5 games since, scoring 16 points with 37 rebounds (15 OREBs) in 88 minutes, shooting 7-11 from the field, and hitting 3 out of 4 free throws—while fouling 14 times.

Looking at the Hoyas’ upcoming schedule, the game at Creighton (BIG EAST Game #2, 12/28) is 4 weeks from Tuesday, while Butler’s visit (BIG EAST Game #6, 1/13) is 6 weeks from Thursday. Using that timetable estimate, Ighoefe would miss at least games against Syracuse (12/11), TCU (12/18), and Providence (12/22), among others.

Ewing and the Hoyas have plenty of size in 7-footers Malcolm Wilson and Ryan Mutombo as the two back-up centers. Some have speculated that the Carolina native Wilson could start against USC on Sunday, as Wilson started in game 1 when Ighoefe missed time due to a reported concussion.

Georgetown, however, has also had some success with small-ball lineups using Collin Holloway as the center, as well as giving freshman Jalin Billingsley minutes in the middle. Nevertheless, the plan for the season, according to Ewing was that since Qudus Wahab left, Tim Ighoefe was supposed to be “the guy.”

Of course, the potential that Ewing must have seen in trying to add Tre King to the roster seems more logical now, but unfortunately King is headed to Iowa State.

Get well, Tim!