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Clemson University confirmed on Sunday morning that Senior Forward Donte Grantham suffered a torn ACL on Saturday during the Tigers 67-58 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The injury occurred with Grantham driving to the lane late in the second half of the contest. Grantham fell to the floor grasping at this right knee in what appeared to be a non-contact injury and spent the remainder of the game on the bench with ice on his injured knee. The injury will end the season and the college career of the Senior out of Martinsburg, WV.
In a statement through the University, head coach Brad Brownell discussed the type of season that the Senior was putting together, and the dismay of ending a career through injury.
“I’m disappointed that Donte’s career at Clemson had to end this way. He was putting together a terrific season statistically, but he really helps this team in so many ways,”
Grantham was currently second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.2 points-per-game and second on the team in rebounding as well averaging 6.9 rebounds-per-game.
Grantham meant so much more to the basketball team than his statistics. After flirting with the idea of entering his name into the NBA draft at the conclusion of last season, Donte decided to return to the Tigers and join fellow Senior Gabe DeVoe to provide the Senior leadership that has sparked the Tigers to a 16-3 start to the season. Grantham is easily the most athletic Tiger as he delighted the Littlejohn Coliseum crowd for four years with his monstrous dunks and rim protecting blocked shots.
The departure of Grantham means his forward position will likely be handed over to Valparaiso transfer David Skara. Skara, in his first year with the program, has been described by head coach Brad Brownell as the best on ball defender, but lacks Grantham’s interior scoring presence as he is currently averaging 2.0 points-per-game in just over 15 minutes. Freshman Aamir Simms will also see an uptick in minutes after a breakout performance at the end of yesterdays game after Grantham’s departure.
Please join the thoughts and prayers of all of us at Shakin the Southland as we wish for a speedy recovery and bright future for Donte Grantham, and we thank him for his service to the University since his arrival in 2014.