Sophomore guard Greg Elliott will redshirt the 2018-‘19 season, Marquette announced after the team’s 92-66 win over North Dakota.

Elliott injured his thumb Oct. 5 during practice and initially was slated to miss eight to 12 weeks.

“It was a collective decision between the doctors, our staff (and) most importantly Greg and his family,” head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “Even if he came back this year, it would still take him a while to get back into the swing of things.”

Elliot played through a different left thumb injury last season, averaging 4.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in 35 games.

“Even though he didn’t have the same injury over the last two years, he has not been healthy since he’s been at Marquette,” Wojciechowski said. “It’s really important to give him a chance to be 100 percent healthy. That’s in his best interest.”

The lack of Elliott leaves Marquette with only two players shorter than 6-foot-5 available entering BIG EAST play. Without Elliott in the mix this season, Marquette has been 174th in the country in its assist-to-turnover ratio.

“There are areas where we have great room for improvement and growth,” Wojciechowski said. “Becoming a better ball-handling team is one of those areas. … I have confidence that our guys are going to get better.”