A couple days after the only Zag player was voted to the preseason All-WCC first team, Killian Tillie underwent surgery on his knee and didn’t attend Kraziness in the Kennel. This isn’t the first time that Gonzaga fans, unfortunately, have heard this type of news coming from Tillie. It’s actually a yearly occurrence.
In 2017, he broke his finger and sprained his ankle in his freshman season. Then, in 2018, he had an issue with his hip and didn’t play in the loss to Florida State in the Sweet 16. Last season, Killian missed almost half of the games with a pair of injuries (a stress fracture and a tear in his ankle) and his role was reduced to coming off the bench. Don’t forget that he also re-injured his ankle during a workout with the Atlanta Hawks last May. Now, another setback has Zag Nation worried about the senior star’s future and the outcome of the 2019-2020 season.
Killian Tillie had a right knee procedure, per @ZagMBB, and will be evaluated weekly. Hopefully Tillie can come back sooner than later. He returned to college basketball to have a healthy final season. @marchmadness
— Andy Katz (@TheAndyKatz) October 5, 2019
You hate to see this happen to a special player like Killian who came back for his senior season to not only improve his game for the rigors of the NBA but to do something special that hasn’t happened at Gonzaga yet and that’s win a national championship.
A healthy Killian Tillie is a key part for Gonzaga to come anywhere near that goal and with the big frenchman being out for the time being, it seems unlikely. The injury will be evaluated weekly so we’re not completely sure if he will miss the beginning of the season or any games at all. Regardless, Tillie won’t be anywhere near the same player that we saw in the 2018 WCC Tournament as the coaching staff will most likely take it extremely slow with him. If I had to guess, he won’t be playing his full allotted minutes that he was expected to play before his injury until the end of November. Maybe even longer.
The major question is whether or not we will see a 100% healthy Killian Tillie before the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas begins. Gonzaga plays Southern Miss on November 27th.
*Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area... Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho