Natalie Potts injury update: Huskers forward reveals 'devastating' news

Nebraska forward Natalie Potts has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season, she announced Wednesday. Potts, who was in her second season with the Cornhuskers, had played in five games so far.

Potts was averaging a team-high 14.4 points and 7.4 rebounds on 68.4% shooting this season in only 21.6 minutes per game. She will be eligible to receive a medical redshirt per NCAA rules, which state that all players who suffer season-ending injuries and have played in less than 30% of the games for the season will not lose a year of eligibility.

#22 will be back🤞🏼 Trusting the process. Turning this setback into a major comeback🫶🏼 pic.twitter.com/wgGexm969h

— Natalie Potts (@natpotts2023) November 20, 2024

“I am devastated to announced that I have torn my ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season,” Potts wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Nothing has stopped me before and I surely won’t let this stop me now. This journey will certainly have its challenges but these are challenges that I’m ready to face.

“As the road to recovery begins, I just want to thank everyone for their kind words and prayers. I’m surrounded by the best and I can’t wait to support my amazing teammates from the sideline. I’ll be back and stronger than every before. As always … GO BIG RED.”

Potts suffered the injury Tuesday evening in a win against North Alabama. She is coming off of a season in which she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2023-24. She started every game to average 10.2 points and 5.5 rebounds while helping Nebraska earn a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The 6-foot-2 forward played her high school basketball for Incarnate Word Academy in Bel-Nor, Missouri, where she twice earned the state’s Player of the Year award. She ranked as the state’s No. 1 recruit from the 2023 class and has certainly lived up to that billing with her play early in her career.

Nebraska is off to a 5-0 start to the season and currently ranks No. 21 in the AP poll. However, it will be tested with the loss of its best player as others will be tasked with stepping up.

The Cornhuskers are next set to face Creighton on Friday at 5 p.m. CT.