Auburn star Johni Broome, the front-runner for National Player of the Year, will not require surgery on the left ankle sprain he suffered in Saturday's victory over South Carolina, sources told ESPN.
Broome underwent an MRI on Sunday morning. The 6-foot-10 senior is out indefinitely, sources said, but it's not expected to be a long-term absence.
Broome went to the locker room with just under 14 minutes left in Saturday's game and didn't return. He stepped on a teammate's foot after contesting a shot on the defensive end, looked to be in serious pain on the floor, and couldn't put any weight on his left foot while being helped to the locker room.
It marks the second injury this season for Broome, who also left a December game against Georgia State after just two minutes with a shoulder injury. Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said after that Dec. 17 contest that Broome's shoulder "came out and came right back in," and the star big man ended up not missing any games.
Broome has been the most dominant player in college basketball and entered the weekend as the favorite to win National Player of the Year. He is averaging 17.9 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game and has tallied huge performances in big games -- including 21 points and 20 rebounds against Ohio State, 23 points and 19 rebounds against North Carolina, and 21 points and 16 rebounds against Memphis. He has 10 double-doubles this season.
Without Broome, Pearl will lean more heavily on seniors Dylan Cardwell (5.5 PPG) and Chaney Johnson (10.1 PPG).
No. 2 Auburn (15-1, 3-0 SEC) has won eight straight games after escaping against South Carolina on Saturday. The Tigers trailed by as many as nine points late in the first half, but they came back to get the win after South Carolina big man Nick Pringle missed two free throws with nine seconds remaining.
After top-ranked Tennessee's 30-point loss at Florida last week, the Tigers are likely to move to No. 1 in the AP poll on Monday. Auburn's next game is at home Tuesday against Mississippi State.
