Yacine Diop, a top contributor for the Louisville women's basketball season, is out for the remainder of the season with an ACL tear, coach Jeff Walz confirmed to the Courier Journal on Monday.

Diop, a graduate transfer from Pittsburgh, was injured Friday during Louisville's win over Arizona State in Las Vegas. Diop initially went down one minute into the game while making a defensive slide. She was evaluated by the team's trainer and re-entered the game momentarily in the third quarter before coming off for good.

Walz said an MRI on Sunday confirmed an ACL tear, the first major injury of Diop's career. She redshirted her junior season at Pittsburgh with a foot injury.

Walz said Diop will have surgery "as soon as she's able to," followed by 6-8 months of rehabilitation.

"We've handled adversity before, and our kids were really upset because they really like Yacine," Walz said. "She came and sat on the bench at the Arizona State game and was cheering, and I've seen so many kids when they get injured go to end of bench, put towel up over their head like, 'Oh, poor, pitiful me,' and that's just not what she's about."

Diop, a 5-foot-10 guard, had played in all three of Louisville's games prior to the injury, starting twice. She was averaging 8.3 points and 5.7 rebounds and led the Cardinals in deflections.

Walz said Louisville will appeal to the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility for Diop.

"If she wants to, we'd love to have her back," Walz said. "But at the same time if she's able to find something professionally that is a good opportunity, we want to make sure she takes the best option possible for her career and that's what we'll give her."

Louisville (5-0) opens its home schedule at 7 p.m. Monday versus Miami (Ohio) at the KFC Yum Center. The Cardinals are ranked fourth in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

Danielle Lerner: 502-582-4042; dlerner@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @Danielle_Lerner. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/daniellel.