Anthony Gaines out for the season with shoulder injury

Junior guard Anthony Gaines will miss the remainder of the 2019-2020 season with a shoulder injury and will undergo surgery, the program announced Sunday. The team also announced that freshman guard Boo Buie and senior AJ Turner will miss tonight’s matchup against Minnesota with injuries.

After sitting out Northwestern’s last two tough losses to DePaul and Hartford, the severity of Gaines’ injury is no surprise.

In his limited appearances this season, he averaged 5.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 26.5 minutes of play per game with his season high 14 points coming in the win over Providence. While he was short of his 6.9-point average last season, he was on track to match or improve upon those numbers. His defensive prowess will be missed the most, as he led the team in steals with 14 and was on track to record a career high this season.

After appearing in ten of the team’s twelve games this season, Gaines will be eligible to seek a medical redshirt when he makes his return next season.

Unfortunately, the Gaines loss is not the only one the team sustained as of late with the announcement that Buie and Turner will sit out the matchup against Minnesota tonight. Buie is out indefinitely with a stress fractured foot, and Turner is day-to-day with a bruised thigh he suffered Northwestern’s last game against Hartford, according to Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune.

For a team that is already trying to recover from its struggles on the court against lesser opponents, these losses make a bad situation significantly worse.

You can catch Northwestern vs. Minnesota tonight at 6:30 CST on BTN as the Wildcats search for their first conference win of the season. With the injuries, Northwestern will be down to just seven scholarship players.