PITTSBURGH — Ryan Luther will miss “at least” two weeks with a stress reaction in his right foot, Pitt head coach Kevin Stallings said after Pitt’s 72-51 win over McNeese State on Saturday.
It’s the same foot that Luther had a stress fracture in 2016-17 that caused him to miss 12 games. This injury is to the second metatarsal as opposed to the third, but is still in the same vicinity as Luther’s previous injury.
Stallings said that Luther first complained of a strange feeling in his foot before practice on Thursday. After practice, he complained of pain and had an X-ray and an MRI, which confirmed the injury.
Luther will be re-evaluated in two weeks, which is a timeframe that coincides with the start of ACC play on Dec. 30 against Miami.
Luther is averaging a double-double on the season and leads Pitt in points, rebounds, blocks and steals while averaged 32.5 minutes per night as one of the team’s two regularly playing seniors.
Needless to say, Luther leaves big shoes to fill. In his absence, Terrell Brown started and played a career-high 24 minutes, Peace Ilegomah got his most extensive action of the season.
Then, there was the leadership aspect of his absence, which Stallings said was filled by junior guard Jared Wilson-Frame.
“Jared’s leadership was terrific today and I really think that’s what enabled him to play the way that he did,” Stallings said. “He was talking in at halftime, talking on the way out of the locker room. He was the guy that was bringing the energy for us today.”
Pitt’s offense started the game out of sorts, and the Panthers shot an abysmal 9 of 32 (28.1 percent) in the first half. It was Wilson-Frame that provided the spark in the second, where he scored 16 of his 19 points.
Pitt will stay at home to host Delaware State on Tuesday.
