North Carolina guard Cameron Johnson will have surgery on Wednesday to repair a torn left knee meniscus, the school said in a press release.
Johnson suffered the injury during practice on Monday and the school did not offer a timetable for his return in the release. Johnson joined the Tar Heels this season as a graduate transfer from Pittsburgh. He missed the season opener for the Tar Heels on Friday against Northern Iowa with a neck injury.
Johnson was one of the nation's top transfer recruits this year after averaging 11.9 points per game last season for Pitt. He made headlines over the summer after the unusual way that Pitt handled his transfer process. After graduating from Pitt in three years, Johnson informed the team that he would be leaving, but the school initially restricted Johnson from transferring to another ACC school and then demanded that he still redshirt a year following graduation.
Under normal circumstances, players that transfer following graduation are permitted to play immediately and are not forced to redshirt a year. Johnson pleaded with Pitt to allow his transfer and he was finally granted his transfer in June with no restrictions. He still has two years left of eligibility after graduating because he lost a playing year as a freshman due to an injury.
The injury to Johnson figures to be a huge blow to the Tar Heels. Johnson was expected to be able to make an immediate impact for a team with championship aspirations as the ninth-ranked team in the country. The team is already without one of its top players in Joel Berry II after he broke his right hand punching a door after losing in a video game.
Fortunately for the team, they have a rather easy non-conference schedule over the course of the next month before conference games begin at the end of December so the losses of Johnson and Berry may not be all that severe for now.
The Tar Heels play Bucknell on Wednesday night.
