Louisville Forward Aboubacar Traore Available vs. Eastern Kentucky

On By Littum

Louisville’s men’s basketball program, which has been hit hard by the injury bug so far this season, got some good news ahead of their matchup against Eastern Kentucky.

Forward Aboubacar ‘Kader’ Traore, who has missed the last 10 games after suffering a broken left arm in practice, has been medically cleared and is available for the Cardinals’ game against the Colonels, the program announced Saturday.

Traore started Louisville’s first two games of the season, playing a combined 37 minutes against Morehead State and Tennessee. The 6-foot-5, 205-pound wing shot 1-of-6 from the field and went 1-of-2 from the free throw line for three points, grabbed 10 rebounds, tallied four assists and blocked three shots.

Getting Traore back is a huge development for a Louisville team that has been dogged by injuries. Starting forward Kasean Pryor suffered a torn ACL last month vs. Oklahoma to cut short its season, while backup point guard Koren Johnson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury after just two games. The Cardinals also have two players, Aly Khalifa and Kobe Rodgers, redshirting this season due to respective injuries

Traore joined Louisville from Long Beach State last season and was one of the best players in the Big West Conference last season. Playing in all 36 games with 31 starts, he put up 12.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, a team-best 4.5 assists, a team-best 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game while also shooting 51.7 percent from the floor.

Not only did Traore earn First-Team All-Big West honors last season, he was also named the conference’s Best Hustle Player. He also won the Big West Tournament MVP after averaging 13.0 points and 10.7 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game.

A native of Côte D’Ivoire in West Africa, Traore had a productive three-year career at Long Beach State. In 101 appearances and 88 games, he has amassed 1,033 points, 853 rebounds and 318 assists.

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