BYU Medical Staff Stitches Dalton Nixon Cut After Elbow To Eye
Nov 13, 2019, 10:52 PM | Updated: Nov 14, 2019, 12:25 am
PROVO, Utah – Whenever BYU head basketball coach Mark Pope describes senior forward Dalton Nixon, he often uses the word, “extraordinary” to describe one of his team’s leaders.
The most extraordinary performance of Nixon’s career at BYU probably took place on Wednesday night. In the first half of BYU’s win against Southern Utah, Nixon took an elbow to the face from a Southern Utah defender. The elbow sent Nixon to the locker room for a few minutes before he returned to the court.
#BYU's Dalton Nixon took a nasty elbow to the cheek against SUU. Here's my angle of the hit. #KSLSports pic.twitter.com/t7LO5fY17R
— Zak Hicken (@zakhicken) November 14, 2019
BYU's Dalton Nixon heads to the locker room after taking an elbow to the face.#SUUvsBYU #BYUHoops #GoCougs
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) November 14, 2019
Nixon played with a bandaid under his left eye the rest of the game and scored 13 points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds to help BYU hold off the upset-minded Thunderbirds, 68-63.
Moments after the game, medical staff on location at the Marriott Center attended to Nixon’s cut. Dalton’s father and former BYU basketball great, Kevin Nixon, posted images of the postgame stitches underneath Nixon’s left eye.
It’s good to have great friends to help you through tough times pic.twitter.com/53IWO2kaQI
— Kevin Nixon (@KevinNixon33) November 14, 2019
BYU confirmed that Nixon had stitches after the Cougars win. Fellow senior and teammate Yoeli Childs was shocked at the sight of seeing his teammate having surgery on his cut in the arena.
Some serious surgery going on under Dalt’s eye at the Marriott Center right now…
Yoeli. Can’t. Even. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/wdPoqRtOOo
— Kevin Nixon (@KevinNixon33) November 14, 2019
That right there is truly extraordinary.
During BYU’s win against the Thunderbirds, Nixon was working hard to pull down rebounds and get to the rim to help his team secure the victory.
On the season, Nixon is now averaging a career-high 8.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in 27 minutes per night as BYU has started the year 2-1 on the young season.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.