Morgan Cheli out for the remainder of 2024-25 season after undergoing ankle surgery

UConn women’s basketball freshman Morgan Cheli will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season after undergoing successful ankle surgery at UConn Health on Wednesday, the team announced on Friday. She’s expected to make a full recovery.

It’s not clear exactly when Cheli hurt her ankle but she missed the last three contests with the injury. Geno Auriemma indicated the outlook wasn’t positive following the Huskies’ win at Seton Hall on Wednesday.

“Her ankle is not responding the way we hoped it would respond,” he said.

As a freshman, Cheli had established herself as a solid role player for UConn. Despite coming in as a guard, the Huskies had largely deployed her in the frontcourt. In 24 games, Cheli averaged 2.5 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 37.0 from three.

She set a career-high with eight points against Holy Cross but put together her best performance against Georgetown with five points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Cheli was also a crucial piece of UConn’s comeback bid against USC — she played most of the second half and the Huskies out-scored the Trojans by 15 with the freshman on the floor.

With Cheli out for the year, UConn has 11 healthy players remaining. Ayanna Patterson (shoulder) will also miss the remainder of the season while Caroline Ducharme (head/neck) has not played since Nov. 19, 2023.

Cheli missed time during the summer and preseason with a slew of leg injuries as well.