Arizona swingman Rawle Alkins underwent surgery to repair a fractured bone in his right foot Wednesday and will be out eight to 12 weeks, the school announced.
The sophomore was a member of the All-Pac 12 freshmen team last season and is expected to be a major contributor this season for the preseason top-five Wildcats. Alkins suffered the injury during voluntary activities with teammates on Tuesday afternoon.
The injury to Alkins is yet another setback for Arizona, which has been dealing with controversy after assistant coach Emanuel "Book" Richardson was charged and arrested by the FBI on Tuesday for his involvement in a corruption scandal rocking the college basketball world.
Even without Alkins to begin the season, Arizona will easily be a top-10 caliber squad. But his presence and production will undeniably be missed as the Wildcats trudge along without their third leading scorer from a season ago.
On the upside, the hit to the overall depth could be a good opportunity for coach Sean Miller to break in a quartet of heralded freshmen in 7-footer DeAndre Ayton, swingman Brandon Randolph, small forward Emmanuel Akot and big man Ira Lee -- all four of whom were top-60 players out of high school.
Alkins averaged 10.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season, and while his recovery prognosis means he'll likely miss the beginning of the season, he could be back in time for conference play when the Wildcats kick things off on Dec. 30 against Arizona State.