Virginia Tech senior guard Ashley Owusu -- who's in her first season with the Hokies after transferring from Maryland -- is out indefinitely after breaking the pinkie on her shooting hand Dec. 1 against Nebraska, coach Kenny Brooks told ESPN Thursday. The program expects her to return midway through its ACC schedule.
Owusu -- the reigning Ann Meyers Drysdale award winner for the nation's best shooting guard -- underwent surgery on the injury Dec. 6.
After spending her first three seasons in college at Maryland, where she was a first-team All-Big Ten player, two-time Big Ten tournament MVP and third-team Associated Press All-American, Owusu opted to join the Hokies this past offseason, coming in at No. 2 in ESPN.com's transfer rankings.
She was still trying to find a groove with her new squad at the time of her injury, averaging 10.4 points, 1.6 assists and 2.7 rebounds in seven starts.
"Very unselfish -- she never really tried to go outside of what we were doing, just trying to figure it out," Brooks said of Owusu's early days in Blacksburg. "She had some games where she was a little bit in a lull because she was trying to figure it out, and then you kind of see -- unfortunately for us -- right before she got hurt, she was starting to figure it out. I thought she was going to get on a roll and then she gets hurt. But her attitude has been tremendous... we can't wait to get her back."
Luckily for Brooks' squad, they have managed to barely skip a beat even with Owusu missing the better part of four games; after beating Nebraska by 31, the Hokies took down Tennessee of the SEC and, to open ACC play, beat Boston College by 15.
Virginia Tech's 10-0 start makes it one of eight teams in the AP poll still undefeated (one of five to do so already winning at least 10 games) and their No. 6 ranking in the AP poll is the highest in program history.
Though Virginia Tech can rely on the likes of reigning ACC player of the year Elizabeth Kitley and four other double-digit scorers, the difficulty of the Hokies' schedule picks up starting Sunday, when they face No. 5 Notre Dame. They then take on North Carolina and Louisville in the first two weeks of the new year.