UConn women's basketball redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy will miss the 2023-24 college basketball season after rupturing an Achilles tendon in the 2023 FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup in Spain this weekend, the program announced Tuesday.
El Alfy was evaluated at UConn Health and will undergo surgery there later this week, the school said. The injury was announced by the Egyptian Basketball Federation Monday before UConn confirmed the diagnosis and that she would miss the upcoming season Tuesday.
The 6-foot-5 forward suffered the noncontact injury backing away from the free throw line in the second quarter of Egypt's matchup versus Italy in the 11th-place game.
This is the third season-ending injury the UConn program has experienced in the past year. Last summer, 2020-21 national player of the year Paige Bueckers and then incoming freshman Ice Brady were ruled out ahead of the 2022-23 campaign with an ACL tear and dislocated patella, respectively. Both are expected to be back for the 2023-24 season.
The Huskies were shocked in the Sweet 16 by Ohio State this past spring, snapping their streak of 14 consecutive Final Four appearances.
El Alfy, who arrived to Storrs in January as the program's first player from Egypt, earned glowing reviews from the team this summer and was expected to play a meaningful role in the Huskies' frontcourt rotation this upcoming season. She turned heads during the U19 World Cup, where she led all players with 21.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game and earned a spot on the all-tournament second team.