Louisville Basketball: Mike Marra Ends College Career After Tearing ACL Again

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino announced via 84 WHAS Radio that Mike Marra had torn his ACL in his left knee during practice on Friday. It was Marra's first practice since tearing his ACL in the same knee last November.

The injury happened just 10 minutes into practice.

"Mike was just pivoting, trying to make a pass early in practice and went down," Rick Pitino said via UofLSports.com. "It's an unfortunate thing that happened in the game. Mike took it very well and said it just wasn't meant to be."

Marra's college basketball career is likely over, but he is planning on going into coaching.

“We wanted Mike to be part of what we think will be a special year, but now he’s going to be a graduate assistant,” Pitino told C.L. Brown of the Courier Journal. “He’s going into coaching, and I told him he’s just one leg up on his competition as far as entering the coaching ranks.”

The 6'5" shooting guard had been doing well in his rehab and was excited to rejoin the team. Marra tore his ACL in the second game of the season last year against Lamar.

Marra came to Louisville from Northfield Mount Hermon School in Rhode Island as one of the top 50 shooting guards in the country. He played in 27 games as a freshman and scored in double figures 11 times as a sophomore.

He will be forever remembered for his four three pointers as a freshman in helping the Cardinals upset the then No. 2-ranked team in the country, Syracuse.

Marra was not expected to play too many minutes for Louisville this season. Although he would have brought a much needed three-point specialist off the bench.

Louisville will now have to look to Wayne Blackshear and Luke Hancock to score from the outside. The Cardinals will have plenty of experience and talent but may now struggle on the three-point land unless someone steps up.