Memphis guard Caleb Mills to miss the rest of the season with a fractured patella

Penny Hardaway confirmed what’s largely been assumed since Thursday night following No. 15 Memphis’ 62-59 win over SMU Sunday.

Fifth-year guard Caleb Mills will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his patella at Tulsa. Mills’ college career is now officially over with the injury. He’ll have surgery on Tuesday.

“Caleb was one of our leaders,” Hardaway said Sunday. “He was the most vocal. He was probably the best defender on-ball, and then he could get it going offensively as well. So, [his absence] is gonna cause us to have to shift in major ways.”

It was indeed a scary sight inside the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Mills, with Memphis leading Tulsa 42-33 with 2:19 left in the first half, slipped and fell to the floor while dribbling along the Golden Hurricane baseline. He immediately grabbed at his right knee, and couldn’t put any weight on it as he was helped off the floor in front of a dead-silent crowd.

The injury left the Tigers so distraught to the point where point guard Jahvon Quinerly covered his face with both hands. Hardaway also looked quite frustrated as the Florida State transfer exited the contest.

“It’s not good…He didn’t slip. [The knee] just gave out,” Hardaway said Thursday. “He was out there on the table just crying his eyes out.”

Mills watched the second half against Tulsa from the bench with his right knee in a brace as Memphis beat the Golden Hurricane 78-75. He also attended Sunday’s home game versus SMU, and was given a standing ovation upon being shown on the FedExForum jumbotron. He averaged 7.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game on 38.6% shooting in 14 games this year.

“We just wanna win for him. If you see him, he goes hard every day. He’s the first one there and the last one to leave,” guard Jayhlon Young said Sunday. “You just feel kinda depressed for him because his college career is already over.”

Quinerly, who tore his ACL in the 2022 NCAA Tournament while with Alabama, says he has an idea of what Mills is going through right now.

“I’ve been in [Mills’] shoes before,” Quinerly said. “I was very hurt because I had a real clean point of view of the injury sitting in the corner. And it just took me back to mine…Honestly, he’s been keeping my spirits up. I’ll go to him kinda feeling down, and he’s got a smile on his face. He makes me feel better about it. He’s built for it. That’s what I told him.”