DAYTON — The University of Dayton has announced two men’s basketball guards will have surgery in the coming weeks to repair injuries they played through last season.
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Sophomore guard Malachi Smith will have reconstructive surgeries on both his right and left ankles, according to a University of Dayton spokesperson.
He will have a procedure done on the right ankle on March 30 and the left ankle will follow ten weeks later.
Brea is scheduled to have rods inserted in both lower legs to address stress fractures he has dealt with in his tibias for the last year, the University of Dayton said.
His surgery is scheduled for April 6.
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Smith played in 19 of Dayton’s 34 games last season, including 16 starts. He missed the first six weeks of the preseason and first three weeks of the season with a left ankle injury.
After playing four games, Smith injured in his right ankle in the Flyers overtime loss to BYU in the Battle 4 Atlantis and missed 11 games. He averaged less than eight points per game and led the team with 5.6 assists per game.
Brea missed the entire summer and preseason, missing six of UD’s first seven games.
He played in the team’s final 27 games, starting the last nine, averaging less than seven points per game and over three rebounds.
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No other Flyer is scheduled to have surgery at this time, the University of Dayton announced.
The Flyers went 22-12 last season, including 12-6 in the Atlantic 10. They finished in second place in the regular season and lost in the finals of the Atlantic 10 Championship against VCU on March 13.