Nov. 27, 2004
ATHENS – Georgia Tech freshman forward Jeremis Smith, injured late in Friday night’s 79-54 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock, suffered a dislocated kneecap on his right leg.
X-rays taken Friday night at Crawford Long Hospital showed no bone chips or other structural damage, and Smith will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging test on Monday to determine whether there is any ligament or soft tissue damage. No prognosis on his recovery can be made until then.
“He’s down, but he’s as good as he can be,” said head coach Paul Hewitt, whose Yellow Jackets are 3-0 and face Michigan next, Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. “The injury is pretty dramatic. What you worry about is the structural damage.
“We’re not going to rush him back. I can tell you that. If there is a chance he can re-injure it, we won’t play him.”
Smith, a 6-6, 232-pound forward from Fort Worth, Texas, had played 18 minutes in Friday’s game, contributing two points, three rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot. He suffered the injury with 1:24 left in the game when after he moved into a position to take a charge. The Trojan’s Zack Wright collided with him, and Smith went down with the knee injury.
Smith missed Tech’s season opener with a stress reaction in his lower left leg, a precursor to a stress fracture, but played well in games at Illinois-Chicago (four points, six rebounds) and again Friday night.
The injury is similar to the one suffered by junior forward Theodis Tarver last season a week before the Yellow Jackets’ first exhibition game. He recovered in time to return to practice the last week of December.
