Photo courtesy of Billiken Athletics
By Carter Chapley
St. Louis, MO
Twitter: @ChapleyMedia
Billiken sharpshooter Gibson Jimerson will be out for the foreseeable future recovering from surgery for a broken right foot. Jimerson sustained the injury in practice Monday, December 16th, and had the procedure late that same week.
Gibson had already missed one game for the Billikens, sitting against Maryville while wearing a walking boot. At that point, they were still waiting on tests to diagnose the injury; it still wasn’t clear how severe the harm was.
The procedure was performed by Head Team Physician Scott Kaar, who, in addition to being a team physician, is an orthopedic surgeon.
The exact timeline for the recovery is not yet clear, but the typical recovery time of the injury spans approximately 8-12 weeks before being cleared for basketball activities. The choice to have the surgery performed ultimately sped up the recovery time for Gibson and corrected the injury entirely, rather than allowing for a longer more natural healing process. The program believes Gibson will be healthy and practicing for the offseason.
The freshman did not make the trip to Kansas City and has returned home to Richmond, Virginia, to be with his family over the holiday. The rest of the Billikens will do the same Saturday or Sunday when they leave Kansas City after their matchup with Kansas State. They all will return to SLU (including Jimerson) December 26th to return for practice ahead of their final out of conference game and the start of the A-10 schedule.
It is not yet clear if Gibson will be eligible for a hardship waiver to redshirt for the season. The typical standard for that clause is to play less than 30% of the team’s scheduled games. Gibson has played in 10 of the potential 32 countable games, amounting to 31%. There is a possibility though as 30% of 32 is 9.6 games to which the NCAA rounds up to 10. The program plans to submit a waiver regardless so that Gibson may remain with 4 years of eligibility.
Gibson has been vital to the Billikens offense, leading the team in three-pointers made and being the third-highest scorer on the team. He has also won two A-10 rookie-of-the-week awards this season.