MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Nathan Adrian played the final five games of his West Virginia basketball career with a torn labrum, an injury that will prevent him from playing professionally next season.
He sustained the injury while tangling arms with Texas forward Jarrett Allen during the Big 12 quarterfinals, and afterward told reporters he felt OK while sporting an ice pack on his left shoulder.
Taking injections to numb his left shoulder, Adrian made only 13-of-36 shots over the remaining two games of the Big 12 tournament and West Virginia’s three-game run to the NCAA Sweet 16.
Adrian still averaged 32 minutes of action per game during that closing stretch.
“It kind of made it difficult to raise my arm above my head,” Adrian said. “My left hand didn’t go all the way up, and I started missing everything left, because I couldn’t get my guide hand up on the shot.”
His agent had fielded potential contract offers from clubs in Belgium, Germany, Austria and Finland, but Adrian said last week’s surgery will require an extensive rehab.
“The doctors said it was even worse than the MRI showed,” he said. “I’m in a sling for six weeks.”
Adrian is completing his master’s degree in sports management after studying finance as an undergrad. He was named the Big 12’s scholar athlete of the year in men’s basketball.
The Morgantown High School product played 140 career games at West Virginia, and averaged a career-high 9.6 points as a senior when the team finished 28-9.
