Purdue's Isaac Haas Out For NCAA Tournament
(97.1 The Ticket) Purdue's championship hopes took a major blow on Friday when center Isaac Haas fractured his elbow in the Boilermakers' win over Cal State Fullerton, knocking the All-Big 10 center out of the rest of the NCAA tournament.
Haas fell on his elbow midway through the second half in a battle for a rebound and came up grimacing. He remained in the game, but X-rays afterward revealed the injury. Haas will undergo surgery, Purdue announced in an official release.
Haas seemed to be in good spirits when he recounted the injury to reporters after the game, his elbow wrapped in ice. He had yet to be sent for X-rays.
"I didn't know what was going on. I just kind of laid there for a second to kind of figure out what my body was feeling at first because I hit my back pretty hard first and then it was my elbow. Then my back felt fine, so I rolled over, and that's when I really felt it in my elbow and I was like, 'Holy crap,'" Haas said.
The senior is Purdue's second-leading scorer (14.7 points per game) and second-leading rebounder (5.7 rebounds per game). Backup center Matt Haarms, a freshman from the Netherlands, will see an increased role.
After dispatching 15-seed Cal State Fullerton 74-48 in the first game at Little Caesars Arena on Friday, 2-seed Purdue will play on Sunday versus the winner of the Arkansas-Butler game.
The Boilermakers are in the East quadrant of the bracket. Michigan State is in the Midwest and Michigan is in the West.
