Derrick Roland, Aggies Come to Grips With Gruesome Injury

Texas A&M senior guard Derrick Roland had surgery early Wednesday morning to repair a broken fibula and tibia in his right leg after coming down hard during Tuesday night's game against Washington in Seattle.

Roland suffered the severe injury during the second half of the Aggies' 73-64 loss against Washington. Doctors put a rod in the leg during surgery this morning.

"He's doing great, the surgery went great," Texas A&M basketball coach Mark Turgeon told FanHouse Wednesday from Seattle. "He was up most of the night with the surgery so he is resting now."

Turgeon said Roland's aunt should arrive in Seattle sometime late Wednesday. Roland will remain at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle through the Christmas holiday. Turgeon and A&M guard Donald Sloan, a close friend and former teammates of Roland's Seagoville High School in Dallas, remained in Seattle with Roland.

The rest of Roland's family is expected to arrive soon. He will likely return to Dallas to finish his recovery once doctors feel it's safe to travel.
" To see a kid's career end like that, it's really hard. Derrick is our leader, so it's been really hard on the players ... We had guys literally crying the whole second half. "
-- Aggies Coach mark Turgeon
Roland's injury is huge blow to Texas A&M for far more reasons than his prowess as its best defensive stopper. He has become their emotional leader and one of the hardest workers on the team. The players were painfully upset Tuesday night, some covering their faces in their jerseys and others visibly shedding tears, as Roland laid on the court in obvious pain.

Turgeon, who had been up all night while Roland went through surgery and had been talking to doctors all morning about his player's condition, was still struggling with the injury as he discussed it Wednesday afternoon.

"To see a kid's career end like that, it's really hard," Turgeon said in a tone barely above a whisper, before trailing off. "Derrick is our leader so it's been really hard on the players. Hopefully, the Christmas break and time will ...

"It was just hard, we had guys literally crying the whole second half and never stopped crying. It's just been really hard."

According to quotes from opposing players on the court, they heard a loud pop and thought something had had hit the court. It was Roland's fibula and tibia snapping.

"It was a gruesome injury and it's really tough on our team," Turgeon said. "The players, it was tough for them to watch. You are sort of helpless."

Turgeon said he didn't realize Roland was hurt until he noticed there was a numbers problem on defense.

"You follow the ball and I realized our transition defense wasn't very good so I looked back and felt something funny and then you look back again and you knew something was seriously wrong," he said. "So basically I started running down toward the end of the bench.

"I looked at our trainer and he said, 'Get a doctor.' So I ran down toward the end of the bench and I was telling our guys to foul."

If there is silver lining in the whole ordeal, Turgeon said it has been the care Roland has received. A doctor happened to be sitting behind the Huskies' bench when the injury occurred and came out of the stands to put the leg back into place and had it stabilized within 15 to 20 seconds of the injury. Roland was then rushed to Harborview Medical Center where he has received A-1 care.

"They say this is the No.1 hospital in the country for trauma surgeries," Turgeon said. "We just feel like he's gotten the best care from the second he got hurt last night. You never know why things happen but if it was going to happen, I'm glad it happened here because he's gotten great care."