Liberty F Isaiah Ihnen’s status is uncertain moving forward after suffering an injury recently, head coach Ritchie McKay said.
“We are going to have a little bit more clarity in the coming days,” McKay said on Saturday following Liberty’s win over UT Arlington. “I think he’s staying back, not going home (for Christmas). When we have our next press conference, we will be able to provide an update.”
Ihnen suffered the injury in the second half of Liberty’s game against North Carolina A&T on Saturday, Dec. 14. Ihnen previously missed two years at Minnesota due to ACL injuries.
The 6’9″ Ihnen is in his first season at Liberty after transferring from Minnesota during the off-season. He quickly made an impact on the Flames, averaging 10.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game through the first 11 games of the season while also starting four. He is shooting 55.7% from the field and 38.9% from three.
Prior to coming to Liberty, Ihnen was originally recruited by Richard Pitino at Minnesota and entered the portal after being with the Gophers since the 2019-20 season. He started his career as a rotation player, appearing in 21 games his freshman season and 29 games his sophomore season, playing 11.4 and 14.3 minutes per game in those years, respectively. But that was before back to back ACL injuries sidelined him for the entirety of the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
Ihnen returned to action last season for the Gophers, playing 11.4 minutes per game in 28 games. He averaged 3.4 points and 1.9 rebounds per game while shooting 44% from the field and 35.8% from three.
He is originally from Germany where he played for the International Basketball Academy Munich (IBAM) team, averaging 13.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 54.3 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. He was the team’s top rebounder, second-leading shot blocker and third-leading scorer. Ihnen was rated the No. 89-ranked prospect in the class of 2019 according to 247Sports, who also listed him as a four-star recruit.
Ihnen has one year of eligibility remaining. If he misses an extended period of time, it would be a big loss for Liberty this season and would really dampen the depth of the Flames’ frontcourt. Zach Cleveland and Owen Aquino have started most of the season up front with Ihnen the primary sub off the bench. Now, the Flames would be forced to go smaller while also seeing Zander Yates perhaps have a bigger role. On Saturday against UTA, McKay went to the undersized Curtis Blair as one of his first subs off the bench at forward.
