Michigan's Jaelin Llewellyn begins 'road to recovery' after ACL surgery

Ann Arbor — Wednesday was a successful day for the Michigan basketball team both on and off the court.

A few hours before Michigan and Penn State tipped off at Crisler Center, the first dose of good news was revealed on the program’s Twitter account in the form of a photo.

The picture featured grad transfer guard Jaelin Llewellyn giving a thumbs up from a hospital bed after having surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee, along with the caption: “Step one is complete. Let the road to recovery begin.”

Llewellyn suffered the season-ending injury when he attempted a pull-up jumper during the second half of the Dec. 4 loss to Kentucky in London. The operation was performed by Dr. James Carpenter at the University of Michigan Hospital.

“He's one of our family members and that's one of their brothers who's going through a tough time right now,” coach Juwan Howard said after Michigan’s 79-69 win over Penn State. “It's very important as a group and as a family that we support a young man who is going to go through a difficult stretch, who wants to be out there on the floor but unfortunately his season got cut short.

“Knowing Jaelin, he's as disciplined and as mature as they come. He's going to do what's right and what's asked when it comes to his rehabilitation.”

Llewellyn was still resting from his surgery when the Wolverines toppled the Nittany Lions to remain perfect in Big Ten play. But he wasn’t left out on the postgame celebration and joined in via video call.

“We talked to him right before he went in (for surgery), right after he came out and we were on the phone with him in the locker room after the game,” said freshman guard Dug McDaniel, who has taken over Llewellyn’s spot in the starting lineup.

“We had our whole team in there to celebrate that win. … He's a very important part of our team and just having him on the phone, just having his presence there with us, you could definitely tell we were playing for him.”

Llewellyn, who spent the previous four years at Princeton, said last month that he hadn't given much thought about the future and whether he'd pursue a medical hardship waiver to play another season of college basketball.

Award watch

A Wolverine from both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are in the running for one of the top honors in the country.

Junior center Hunter Dickinson and fifth-year senior forward Emily Kiser were among the 25 male and 25 female candidates named to the midseason watch list for the John R. Wooden Award, which is given annually to the top men’s and women’s college basketball player.

Dickinson is averaging a team-best 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds, while Kiser is averaging a career-best 17.3 points and 7.1 rebounds.

Dickinson and Kiser were joined by several players from the Big Ten, including Purdue’s Zach Edey, Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis and Iowa’s Kris Murray on the men’s side and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano, Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes, Ohio State’s Taylor Mikesell and Maryland’s Diamond Miller on the women’s side.

Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis, who continues to climb up the Division 1 all-time scoring list, also made the list.

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @jamesbhawkins