A Michigan State men's basketball spokesperson has revealed that sophomore forward Jaxon Kohler underwent surgery on his left foot. Kohler’s injury is not “season-ending” and Michigan State is “expecting him to be back before Christmas.”
Kohler had the surgery in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday.
Last season, he played in 31 games and averaged 10.6 minutes played per game. Kohler scored 94 total points in the 2022-23 season for an average of 3.0 points per game. He also averaged 2.9 rebouns per contest, and shot 50.5% overall from the floor.
Kohler is part of a deep Michigan State front-court this season that contains Mady Sissoko, Malik Hall, Carson Cooper, freshman Xavier Booker and perhaps freshman Coen Carr. He was expected to play a fair amount of minutes at the center position this year, but will now obviously miss part of the season early on.
Earlier this month, Kohler spoke about his increased motivation to improve his overall game in 2023-2024.
"I can confidently say that this year, or like this summer, right after the tournament ended, I have never felt more overwhelmed with motivation to get better at every aspect of my game that I can," Kohler said. "Whether that be getting faster, whether that be getting stronger, work on my offensive game, work on my defensive game, just everything in general."
The Spartans are entering the season as the No. 4 team in the country in the Associated Press Preseason poll.
Michigan State has its first exhibition game against Hillsdale on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at the Breslin Center. The Spartans will take on Tennessee in a charity exhibition game on Sunday, Oct. 29 before opening the regular season against James Madison on Monday, Nov. 6.
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