Auburn guard Lior Berman suffers season-ending injury
AUBURN — Graduate student Lior Berman will not return to the court this season after suffering an ACL injury in his left knee against Mississippi State on Saturday, sources confirm to Auburn Live.
Berman underwent a MRI on Sunday morning. Sources confirm that Berman will undergo further evaluations this week to decide on whether surgery is necessary or not.
“He’s been playing really, really well. I’m so disappointed for him. He knew we were committed to him being in the rotation for the rest of the year. I’m a little down about that,” Bruce Pearl said postgame on Saturday.
Update: Auburn University later confirmed the news with an official press release.
Pearl said on Sunday following the news, “Our heart truly breaks for Lior. He has made a huge impact in this program resulting in historical success over the last five years. At a time when he had worked his way into a major roll on this year’s team, the Lord had a different plan. I promise you, Lior’s faith and conviction will allow him to pursue his dream of playing professionally next year in Israel. Our team may have won a game yesterday, but we suffered a huge loss.”
The injury occurred with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game. Berman drove into the paint, planted on his left foot, and that’s when his left knee gave out and Berman fell to the floor. Trainers came out and checked on Berman, ultimately helping him off the floor and into the locker room not to return.
“I want to give thanks to my coaches, staff, administration, teammates and the Auburn Family,” Berman said. “I have loved every second here and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Let’s finish this season with a bang. War Eagle!”
Berman scored five points in the immediate minutes prior to the injury, which occurred midway through the second half of the Tigers’ 78-63 win. It was the third straight game where Berman made a positive impact on the offensive end of the floor, scoring 14 points in Auburn’s last three SEC games on 6-9 shooting from the field.
Berman will end his Auburn career playing for five seasons, playing in 86 games, scoring 155 points and grabbing 77 rebounds, all after walking on to the Tigers’ program prior to the 2019-20 season. He earned a scholarship prior to this season.
He was a part of a senior class that was one of the winningest in program history compiling an 87-39 overall record and going 44-28 in SEC play over four seasons from 2019-23. Berman then helped add another 22 wins onto that total this season.
