Syracuse basketball: Jalen Carey to have thumb surgey, will miss significant time

Syracuse Orange men’s basketball guard Jalen Carey will have surgery on an injured right thumb on Friday. The sophomore guard will miss significant time as a result.

The news first came from play-by-play announcer Matt Park prior to Wednesday night’s win against Cornell.

In his post-game press conference, Coach Jim Boeheim elaborated on Carey’s situation.

“He’s had an injury for quite some time,” said Boeheim. “He’s perfectly able to play on it, but it was one of those things that needs to be fixed. I think it’s the right thing to do. I don’t know how much it hampered his playing — if it did at all — but it just needed to be fixed at this time. It’s an eight- or 10-week recovery period, so he will certainly be able to get a medical redshirt out of this, too.”

In two games this season, Carey averaged 11.5 minutes, 1.5 points, 3 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.5 steals, and 1.5 turnovers while shooting 12.5 percent from the field and 25 percent from the free throw line. After starting the season opener against Virginia and playing the first few minutes of the following game against Colgate, he was pulled from the lineup in favor of Joe Girard III. Carey didn’t play against Seattle — a game in which Girard III scored 24 points.

Boeheim wasn’t very concerned about his team’s guard depth without Carey, saying freshman Brycen Goodine just needs to get more comfortable, and that redshirt sophomore Howard Washington will get an opportunity in Saturday’s game against Bucknell. He also pointed out that Elijah Hughes can be used as a guard.

“We still have four guards, so I’m not too worried,” Boeheim said. “We had too many guards, but now we have four.”