Wisconsin basketball center Riccardo Greppi injured, will miss time
Wisconsin Badgers freshman center Riccardo Greppi is going to miss some time due to an injury suffered in practice.
The Wisconsin men’s basketball team's frontcourt depth took a hit this week due to an injury suffered in practice.
Freshman center Riccardo Greppi, a late addition to the 2024 recruiting class that also featured Daniel Freitag and Jack Robison, will be sidelined for an extended period of time after suffering an injury during a transition drill.
Head coach Greg Gard confirmed the news on Thursday, offering some relief that the injury won’t require surgery.
“[Greppi] got banged up in a four-on-four transition drill, got caught up, or got hit on a rebound,” Gard told reporters. “Fortunately, it’s not as serious as what we initially thought when it happened. He’s going to be out for some time, but it’s not going to require any type of surgery.
"He got hit pretty hard from the front, went down hard, but like I said, we're fortunate that it's not serious. He's gonna be out for a little while as he heals up a bit, but it's better in terms of the information that we got from our doctors than what we initially watched happen.
“He‘ll be back in time.”
Greppi has appeared in four games this season, playing in a reserve role behind starters Steven Crowl and Nolan Winter and backups Xavier Amos and Carter Gilmore. With Greppi no longer an option, junior Chris Hodges will be the next man up should foul trouble become an issue.
In limited action, the Italy native has totaled four points, seven rebounds (four offensive), an assist, and a block across 11 minutes. Most recently, Greppi logged a career-high five minutes in the Badgers’ 76-53 win over Detroit Mercy, adding one point, two rebounds, and a block.
The 6-foot-10 center was a late addition to Wisconsin’s roster following enrollment issues that prevented former commit Andrija Vuković from joining the program. The staff sees Greppi as a long-term developmental piece, and his absence will cut into valuable practice time and reps.
"That's a long road to develop. That ain't gonna happen in a short amount of time," Gard said of Greppi. "Part of that is the body composition. He's stronger than what he was when he got here.
“I don't know if he had seen a weight room before he came here. Coach [Jim] Snider's got a big project there as he goes forward to get him really strong. Functional strength, that's the biggest thing he needs to continue to acquire."
While Greppi’s prolonged absence doesn’t alter the team’s rotation in a meaningful way in the short term, it puts added pressure on the frontcourt and removes a valuable scout team presence.
Wisconsin Badgers basketball is set to resume conference play on Friday, Jan. 3, hosting Iowa at the Kohl Center.
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