St. John’s forward Donnie Freeman to miss next season following surgery on Achilles tendon

NEW YORK (AP) — St. John’s forward Donnie Freeman will miss next season with an Achilles injury after getting hurt during a workout this week.

It’s a significant blow to the Red Storm, who landed Freeman in the transfer portal from Syracuse this offseason and were expecting him to be a top player on the 2026-27 team.

The rising junior was injured Monday and had surgery on his right Achilles tendon, the school announced Wednesday night.

“Donnie had a non-contact injury in a workout and will miss the season,” Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino posted on social media. “Donnie is an awesome young man, we will get him back better than ever!”

The 6-foot-9 Freeman averaged 15.3 points and 7.5 rebounds in 37 games over two seasons at Syracuse. He was rated one of the nation’s top recruits in the high school class of 2024.

St. John’s is coming off consecutive Big East regular-season and tournament championships and its first trip to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament since 1999. But the Red Storm must replace all three starters in the frontcourt after Zuby Ejiofor, Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins were all selected within the first 49 picks of the NBA draft last week.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball