As if the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team needed this news.
Point guard Will Richardson, who was just named Second-Team All-Conference, will miss this week’s Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas due what is being called a “non-COVID related illness.”
Richardson missed the regular-season finale at Washington State on Sunday. He was cut in the head during the USC game Feb. 26 and received stitches at halftime during that contest. But he hasn’t been the same player since. He was 0-of-8 from the field with two points against the Trojans and was 0-of-3 with no points at Washington, although he did grab seven rebounds.
The Ducks need to win four games in four games in Vegas in order to make the NCAA tournament and missing their star point guard will only make that task more difficult. Richardson was averaging 14.4 points a game to go with 3.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
Oregon opens the conference tourney with the Beavers on Wednesday. They’re scheduled to tip off at 2:30 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.