The Michigan basketball program will be without the services of junior guard Eso Akunne for the foreseeable future.

Michigan announced Thursday that Akunne, an Ann Arbor native, will miss six to eight weeks following surgery on his left foot.

"We all feel bad for Eso because he has worked so hard to work his way into this rotation," Michigan coach John Beilein said in a statement. "His attitude, however, is so good that I am certain he will bounce back from this and return to practice as soon as he can."

Eso Akunne will miss the next six to eight weeks of games.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Akunne suffered the injury during Michigan's 66-64 win at Purdue on Tuesday. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound guard played briefly in the first half against the Boilermakers, but spent the remainder of the game on the bench with a boot on his injured foot.

The injury took place on the fifth metatarsal of his left foot. Akunne will have surgery Friday at the University of Michigan Hospital, and he will have a screw placed in his foot for support.

A four-year letterwinner at Father Gabriel Richard, Akunne averaged 17 points, 10.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.6 blocks during his prep career before joining the Wolverines as a preferred walk on in 2009-10.

This season, Akunne has played in 12 games as a reserve point guard, scoring a total of 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting.

"Eso has been a big part of this team’s success over the last two years, even if that does not show up in the box score," Beilein said. "We hope he will be able to help this team again sometime in March."

Nick Baumgardner covers Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2514, by email at nickbaumgardner@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @nickbaumgardner.

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