Cardell McFarland, a preseason NCAA Division II All-American and the leading scorer for Kentucky Wesleyan's men's basketball team, is expected to miss at minimum a month of playing time after suffering an injury to his left foot in the Panthers' 80-77 loss to visiting Indianapolis on Saturday at the Sportscenter.
McFarland partially ruptured his plantar fascia, the thick connective tissue that supports the bottom of the foot. He is expected to wear a protective boot for two weeks and will require two weeks of rehabilitation after that, according to KWC head coach Todd Lee.
“It's a horrible deal for Cardell and our team,” Lee said. “He's really devastated. It's his senior year, and for him to get injured when we're ranked No. 1 in the country — it's a tough blow all the way around.
“Cardell was a very good player for us last year, but he's developed into a much better player this year. There's no way around it, we're really going to miss him, especially when we need a clutch shot or late in the shot clock on offensive possessions. He's just an outstanding playmaker.”
A 5-foot-11, 167-pound senior guard out of Evansville's Bosse High School, McFarland averages 21.1 points per game, tops in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. He is shooting 61 percent from the field, including 47 percent from 3-point range, and is making 88 percent of his free-throw attempts.
In addition, McFarland averages 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per outing for the top-ranked Panthers, who are 15-2 overall and 7-2 in the GLVC.
McFarland already had scored 12 points against Indy when he was injured in the first two minutes of the second half.
“Everyone on our team is going to have to step up their play,” said Lee, who will likely move
Kreig Oxley to the point and require more minutes from redshirt freshman
Travis Johnston as a backup. “The truth is, everyone in our rotation is going to be receiving more minutes because Cardell averaged 32 minutes a game.
“We have better depth than we've had in the past, and that's going to help us some, but we lose more than points with Cardell out. We also lose a great deal of leadership, experience and toughness. We're going to have to work very hard as a team to make up for it.”
As a junior in 2010-11, McFarland averaged 18 points per game to help lead the Panthers to their second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
He hit 52 percent from the field, including 42 percent from 3-point range, and had a season-high 47 points in Wesleyan's Feb. 19 upset win at eventual national champion Bellarmine.
McFarland transferred to KWC after playing two seasons at NCAA Division I Missouri State of the Missouri Valley Conference.
Wesleyan, which has dropped two of their last three games after opening the season 14-0, returns to league play on Thursday at Northern Kentucky.
