{"id":113221,"date":"2024-12-19T16:55:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=113221"},"modified":"2024-12-19T16:55:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:55:21","slug":"the-freemantle-injury-a-huge-blow-for-xavier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/19\/the-freemantle-injury-a-huge-blow-for-xavier\/","title":{"rendered":"The Freemantle Injury A Huge Blow For Xavier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even a few days after the <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/zach-freemantle-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zach Freemantle<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> injury news hit, the pain has yet to subside for Xavier men\u2019s basketball coach <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/coaches\/sean-miller-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sean Miller<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and those impacted by Freemantle\u2019s latest injury setback. Freemantle was off to an impressive start after missing all of last season before being injured in a <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mens-college-basketball\/game?gameId=401715626\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">loss to Cincinnati<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;You always say things can be worse, but this kid has done things I&#8217;ve never seen before in sports,&#8221; Sean Miller said about Zach Freemantle&#8217;s injury. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ljVUU7DYwS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/ljVUU7DYwS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Enquirer (@Enquirer) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Enquirer\/status\/1869801128445005858?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freemantle had 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals as Xavier fell to Cincinnati 68-65. Xavier said that Freemantle is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. Listening to Miller speak to the media after <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/uconn-xavier-score-basketball-top-25-c2e06420925a15fcfe7d797405a0cab0\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wednesday\u2019s loss to UConn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it seems like indefinitely is a nice way of sugarcoating what could be another season-ending injury for the Xavier star. Xavier was picked third in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/23\/big-east-preseason-poll-has-uconn-as-the-team-to-beat\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Big East preseason poll.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> That ranking was with the assumption that a healthy Freemantle would be leading the Musketeers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The Freemantle Injury A Huge Blow For Xavier<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Xavier Loses Its Best Player With the Freemantle Injury<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 6-foot-9 Freemantle put in the work in the offseason after sitting out all of the 2023-24 season. He scored in double figures in all 11 games that he played. Freemantle had three double-doubles this season. He averaged a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game this season. His average of 16.9 points per game also led the time at the time of his injury. <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/ryan-conwell-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ryan Conwell<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> took over the team lead in scoring with a big game against UConn.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Per reports, Xavier\u2019s Zach Freemantle is out indefinitely with a lower body injury he suffered Saturday against Cincinnati.<\/p>\n<p>Here was a play late in the game where he took an awkward fall: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WLMHvgIM4z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/WLMHvgIM4z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Paul Fritschner (@PaulFritschner) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PaulFritschner\/status\/1868731548528525408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to say to him and quite frankly, I don\u2019t know if he knew what to say to me,\u201d Miller told the media after Wednesday\u2019s loss. \u201cIt is heartbreaking, it is devastating. You always say things can be worse but this kid has done things that I have never seen before in this sport, overcoming multiple season-ending injuries, the surgeries. This past [offseason] he really [got] himself in world-class shape. He has 4% body fat, he is our hardest worker. Obviously, he has been our best player.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/03\/big-12-matchups-could-help-the-big-east-rebound\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freemantle played his best<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> against the elite competition for Xavier. His clutch play will be difficult to replace.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Freemantle Stayed Through The Adversity<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the transfer portal era, it is not usual for players to change schools two and sometimes even three times. However, even as the Freemantle injury history kept growing, he never left.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freemantle was limited to 21 games during the 2020-21 season and 22 games in the 2022-23 season. The injury bug continued to follow Freemantle throughout his college career.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freemantle played in 116 games in his five seasons at Xavier with 89 starts. His loyalty is one of the attributes that Miller appreciates the most when he reflects on his time coaching the star forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis is his final year, he never entered the transfer portal, he stayed with Xavier, graduated and is in grad school,\u201d Miller said. \u201cHe loves the Big East, loves college basketball.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou said that this is going to be the year that he is going to be healthy from start to finish and obviously this happens.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><b>What\u2019s Next For Xavier After the Freemantle Injury?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Xavier had a spirited effort in the first game this season without Freemantle. Xavier is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the Big East. That was evident as the Musketeers made seven consecutive three-pointers at one point. Xavier connected on 8 of 10 shots from three-point range in the second half. However, Xavier missed four of its five three-pointers in overtime.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ryan Conwell led the Musketeers with 23 points. <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/dante-maddoxjr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dante Maddox Jr.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had 22 points, with 15 of them coming on five 3-pointers in the 94-89 loss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More of that will be needed moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt affects us in a big way but what you are obviously the most concerned about and what I think the most about it just him,\u201d Miller said. \u201cIt can really take an athlete into a dark place and to go through it four times. That is a completely different situation. We are surrounding him with a lot of camaraderie and on his end, he is probably like, thank you but he\u2019s got to fight the good fight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even a few days after the Zach Freemantle injury news hit, the pain has yet to subside for Xavier men\u2019s basketball coach Sean Miller and those impacted by Freemantle\u2019s latest injury setback. Freemantle was off to an impressive start after missing all of last season before being injured in a loss to Cincinnati. &#8220;You always [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5287,"featured_media":113239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773],"tags":[4447,853],"class_list":["post-113221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","tag-big-east-basketball","tag-xavier-musketeers"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113221"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113279,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113221\/revisions\/113279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}