Fred Hoiberg confirms Juwan Gary to undergo shoulder surgery, miss rest of the season

After Wednesday’s victory over Ohio State, Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg confirmed Juwan Gary will miss the rest of the season. Gary has been dealing with a shoulder injury, and Hoiberg said it will now require surgery.

A transfer from Alabama, Gary started 16 games for Nebraska this season before his injury, averaging 9.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game over that time. He got hurt Jan. 10 against Illinois and didn’t return.

Hoiberg had hope Gary would be able to come back at some point after going through some rehab, but he said it became clear the injury needs surgery and “there’s no chance” he’ll return to the rotation. On Tuesday — one day before the Ohio State game — Hoiberg said Gary had an appointment with a specialist on Wednesday to determine a timeline for a potential return.

“Juwan, still no update on him as far as a timeframe,” Hoiberg said. “He’s going to be out for a while. He got a scan yesterday and he’s going to go see a shoulder specialist tomorrow and we’ll have an update after that. We’re still hopeful that we will get Juwan back at some point, but we’ll know a lot more after tomorrow’s appointment with the specialist.”

Neither Ohio State nor Nebraska got off to a good start on offense as the Buckeyes took a 22-21 lead into the locker room at halftime. But the Cornhuskers outscored them 42-38 in the second half — fueled by 10 points from Sam Griesel — to pull away for the victory and leapfrog Ohio State in the standings. Griesel was also part of Hoiberg’s injury update Tuesday with a hip injury, but was able to give it a go and help lift Nebraska to the victory.

The Cornhuskers, now 10-9 overall and 3-5 in Big Ten play, turn their attention to Penn State Saturday at 2:15 p.m. ET.