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Report: Alex Kirk’s injury is to lower leg, officially day-to-day

Kirk Williams Bairstow Thomas Greenwood

The New Mexico starting line up, from left, Alex Kirk, Kendall Williams, Cameron Bairstow, Cleveland Thomas and Hugh Greenwood wait to re-enter the game against Alabama A&M in the second half of an NCAA basketball game in Albuquerque, N.M., Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013. New Mexico won 88-52. (AP Photo/Eric Draper)

AP

The big news coming out of Fort Collins on Saturday wasn’t that New Mexico went into Moby Arena and knocked off Colorado State, it’s that they did so without Alex Kirk on the court.

Kirk sat out with an undisclosed injury and was officially listed as day-to-day.

The Lobos never went back to New Mexico after the win, opting to head up to Logan, UT, to prepare for Tuesday’s game at Utah State instead. According to a report from Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal, a determination as to Kirk’s playing status had not yet been made.

That’s not unusual. For starters, if Kirk’s injury isn’t all that serious, it may simply be a situation where he needs to figure out if he can tolerate the pain he is dealing with. The Lobos also don’t want to tip their hand to the Aggies. Stew Morrill may prepare his team differently if he knew Kirk would be out of the lineup.

Grammer also provided a bit more context on what the actual injury is:

The Journal can confirm that initial reports indicating Kirk has a foot injury, including one from the official @UNMHoops Twitter account that used the phrase “foot injury,” were erroneous. Kirk’s injury is in the lower leg, not in the foot or ankle. Doctors did not find a break when they examined him after Tuesday’s win over Boise State or when they did further testing Wednesday, Neal said.

Losing Kirk would hurt, but it obviously isn’t a death blow for the Lobos. Cameron Bairstow has been fantastic this season, and with Hugh Greenwood and Cullen Neal finally healthy, this team has enough weapons to survive.

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