L.J. Cason will not take the court again until the 2027-28 season.
Michigan basketball’s top backup guard tore the ACL in his right knee in the final game of February when the Wolverines clinched the regular season Big Ten championship at Illinois.
On Sunday, March 8, CBS reported during Michigan’s 90-80 victory over Michigan State that Cason would redshirt for the 2026-27 season.
On Monday, during his weekly morning press conference, Michigan coach Dusty May acknowledged as much.
“Timing,” May said of why the decision was made. “He hasn’t had surgery yet and I think, I can’t imagine bringing him back in January after not playing for a year-and-a-half.”
Cason’s surgery has also not yet been scheduled. May said much of that is because they want him to go through all of the enjoyable parts of a March run with a team that he helped put in this position.
Also, by knowing Michigan won’t rush him back next season, it allows him to take his time to make sure all of the swelling has gone down to have the procedure and travel to Chicago for the Big Ten Tournament and beyond − Michigan will likely play its first two potential matchups in March Madness in Philadelphia or Buffalo, with the Midwest regional in Chicago and Final Four in Indianapolis.
“We want him to be a part of this stuff,” May said. “We don’t want him to miss the Big Ten Tournament, we don’t want him to miss the NCAA Tournament. So I think the longer we play, the longer surgery [date] will be.
“We lean on [the doctors] … when it comes to the medical side, I just lean on our elite support staff.”
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Cason was averaged 8.4 points and 2.4 assists a game this season, but had taken his game to another level for the Wolverines over the previous month. Cason scored in double figures in four of five games prior to the Illinois contest. (Against the Illini, he scored nine points in 13 minutes.) That stretch included a career-high 18 points in a Feb. 11 rally at Northwestern, in which Cason didn’t come off the court for the final 15 minutes.
He averaged 11.8 points per game in February.
“He was playing as well as anyone on our roster when he went down,” May said. “L.J. was a big part of us getting to this point, so now we’ve all got to give a little more to get over the hump without him.”
It’s unclear how the Wolverines will adjust for his absence next season. Cason, along with Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney, should they both return, was expected to get significant run with Roddy Gayle Jr. and Nimari Burnett both departing due to graduation.
Michigan has just one guard signed to its 2026 class − four-star shooting guard Joseph Hartmann − so the Wolverines could bring in an upperclassmen ball-handler as a one-year stop gap behind Cadeau; that would allow McKenney to remain at the two and perhaps be backed up by Winters Grady, who may also play some wing.
However those are questions for the offseason. As of now, Michigan hopes it has nine games remaining and is focused on how it’s operating without Cason. Gayle scored 15 points in the regular-season finale, his most since Jan. 2 against USC, while McKenney also stepped up in a way that gives Michigan confidence heading into the postseason.
“I thought we looked much more comfortable finding different entries, finding flow … from Game 2 to Game 1,” May said. “Very encouraged by Trey McKenney’s poise … it’s going to be very beneficial for him.”
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: L.J. Cason injury update: Michigan basketball G to redshirt in 2026-27