ASU’s Kimani Lawrence suffers left hamstring injury in loss to Oregon

The already shorthanded Arizona State Sun Devils suffered another tough blow during their 91-73 loss to the Oregon Ducks in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Senior forward Kimani Lawrence exited Thursday’s game with a left hamstring injury after attempting to block a shot at the 13-minute mark in the second half.

He was helped off the court and taken to the locker room before it was determined it was a hamstring issue.

Lawrence did not return to the game for ASU, leaving the team to go with a much smaller lineup with Josh Christopher, Marcus Bagley and Taeshon Cherry also unavailable.

From there, Oregon pulled away, forcing Alonzo Verge and Remy Martin into extended minutes.

Alonzo Verge Jr. led the Sun Devils with 28 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists, one block and a steal. After a lackluster start to the game, Mertin finished with 16 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Lawrence had scored five points to go along with six rebounds and an assist in 24 minutes of action before going down.

To make matters worse, starting forward Jalen Graham would eventually foul out, leaving Chris Osten and John Olmsted as the lone available big men for ASU.

In Wednesday’s win over Washington State, Lawrence registered 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, one block and two steals in 34 minutes.

Entering play Thursday, the forward was averaging 8.2 points and 5.0 rebounds in 24 minutes per game.

What doesn’t show up on the stat sheet is Lawrence’s hustle, something head coach Bobby Hurley covets.

Lawrence had an impressive stretch in late February that saw him record two double-doubles in back-to-back meetings with the Washington Huskies, one of which was a 21-point, 20-rebound effort.

He entered those matchups after setting a season-high in points (18) at the time against UCLA. He also grabbed nine boards.

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