Pitt guard Jamarius Burton is progressing in his return from injury and has started practicing with the team in a non-contact setting, head coach Jeff Capel said Monday.
Burton, a transfer from Texas Tech, was expected to be one of Pitt’s lead guards this season, but underwent knee surgery in early October. He was expected to miss four to six weeks, and at the early part of that time frame, Burton has returned to Pitt’s practices, albeit in a non-contact role for now.
The loss of Burton has been exacerbated by fellow off-ball guard Nike Sibande being lost for the season to an ACL injury and Ithiel Horton being suspended indefinitely on Monday after being arrested over the weekend.
Capel said that Burton will not play in the team’s season opener against The Citadel on Tuesday, but did not rule him out for any games beyond that.
“I think right now it’s probably day-by-day, seeing how he does,” Capel said. “We ramped things up a little bit more today. We’ll see how he responds to that and then we’ll make the decision going forward depending on how he’s progressing.”
After the opener with the Bulldogs, Pitt faces a tough second test with a trip to Morgantown to face rival West Virginia on Friday.
