Georgia State hasn’t been to the NCAAs in 13 years. Forgive coach Ron Hunter if he seemed a little out of practice.
Hunter tore the Achilles tendon in his left leg as he jumped off the bench to celebrate the Panthers’ 38-36 win in the finals of the Sun Belt men’s basketball tournament in New Orleans.
“On a scale of 1 to 10 (for pain) I’m at 17,” he said.
Hunter said the team doctors would like for him to stay in New Orleans on Sunday, but he said he will ride back on the bus with the team and deal with the injury after the NCAA tournament.
“I’m embarrassed by this because it takes away from the kids,” he said.
Hunter said he suffered the same injury in his right leg years ago.
“I haven’t jumped that high in 26 years,” he said. “I knew I had done it. But I wanted to go to celebrate with my team and my son.”
Tournament officials lowered the basket so that he could could crutch over and cut down a piece of the nets. The other players climbed a ladder to snip pieces.
R.J. Hunter said he could tell something was wrong with his dad as soon as he saw him as the confetti rained down from the rafters of Lakefront Arena.
“He didn’t have a great look on his face,” R.J. Hunter said. “He must really be hurt.”
It’s the second time Ron Hunter suffered an injury during a game. He broke his foot stomping when he was coach at IUPUI. That injury occurred when R.J. was 7-years-old.
“He had that same look he had today,” R.J. Hunter said. “I knew something was wrong.”
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