Maryland center Michal Cekovsky out for the season with fractured ankle

Maryland center Michal Cekovsky will miss the remainder of the season with a fractured left ankle suffered in Sunday’s loss to Wisconsin, the school announced Monday.

Cekovsky’s season had just gotten going. The Slovakian junior center had missed 10 of the team’s 27 games. He sat out the Terps’ first four games with a sprained foot, and missed many of the team’s preseason workouts with a hamstring injury. He then missed six games in January with an ankle injury.

When Cekovsky did play, though, he was efficient and appeared to be making real strides in his third season with the program, especially on offense. His offensive rating of 113.8 on KenPom is comfortably the team’s highest, though it obviously came in a smaller sample size. After working his way back slowly, he landed awkwardly on his ankle while trying to back down Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes with under four minutes to go on Sunday.

Without Cekovsky, Maryland will need to rely on Damonte Dodd, Ivan Bender and L.G. Gill even more. Dodd was already the team’s starting center, but without Cekovsky’s 7’1 frame behind him, head coach Mark Turgeon loses valuable size that he’d love to have in the postseason.

“I feel badly for Ceko as he has endured a number of injuries throughout the season,” Turgeon said in a statement. “It felt like he was really starting to turn the corner and his best basketball was ahead of him. We anticipate a full recovery for next season and we will be there to support him through the rehabilitation process.”