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The going doesn’t get any easier for Rapolas Ivanauskas.
Northwestern announced the forward has undergone surgery for a second time on his shoulder and will miss the remainder of the 2017-18 basketball season. The former three-star recruit did not see action during the 2016-17 campaign because of a similar injury on the same shoulder.
Ivanauskas hasn’t seen a lot of action this season, logging only 11 minutes without scoring over three games. The Barrington, Ill., native hasn’t seen the court since a Nov. 24 matchup with Sacred Heart. Chris Collins has been sticking with Dererk Pardon, Gavin Skelly, Aaron Falzon, and Barrett Benson in the frontcourt, so the rotation likely won’t change at all. Nonetheless, Ivanauskas loses valuable development time. He will likely be able to apply for a medical redshirt, though the bigger concern is whether his shoulder will ever be healthy.