Based on photos posted by the Pitt men’s basketball social media team, it appears as though Abdoul-Karim Coulibaly, Au’Diese Toney, William Jeffress, and Xavier Johnson will all be playing on Wednesday night when Pitt looks to improve its road record to 3-0 on the season at Syracuse.
On Monday afternoon, Pitt head coach Jeff Capel announced that in addition to Justin Champagnie, the Panthers would be without two players due to contact tracing within the program. Based on photos posted by the Pitt Men’s Basketball social media pages, it is safe to say that Coulibaly, Jeffress, Johnson, and Toney are not among those players that will sit out.
The photo of Coulibaly and Toney practicing was posted on Monday Jan. 4, while the photos of Jeffress, Johnson, and Toney boarding the team’s airplane were posted Jan. 5., both coming after Capel’s announcement on Monday morning.
Jeffress has averaged 17.4 minutes per game so far, coming off the bench in all seven appearances. He is also currently averaging 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.
Through seven games, Johnson is averaging 14.4 points and 4.3 assists per game. He is currently sitting at 998 career points for the Panthers, and would become the 47th player in program history to surpass the 1,000-point mark.
Toney is currently averaging 16.2 points per game, good for 11th in the ACC. He is also sixth in the ACC in field goal percentage, shooting a very efficient 52.5% through six games played. The 6-foot-6 junior has not played since Dec. 16 due to an ankle injury suffered in practice.
Coulibaly has started six out of seven games for the Panthers, averaging 3.7 points per game and four rebounds per game. He is currently leading the team in blocked shots with 8 so far this season.
The trio will look to take down Syracuse Wednesday evening at 4:30 p.m. at the Carrier Dome. The game will be televised on ACC Network.
