DAYTON, Ohio. — Ahead of Pitt’s first four basketball game in the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday night, Pitt head coach Jeff Capel announced that the Panthers’ starting big man Federiko Federiko will be a game-time decision for the game due to a knee injury.
“He’ll be a game-time decision if he’ll play,” Capel said on Monday. “He’s still nursing that knee. He hurt it against Georgia Tech, he tried to play against Duke the next day. We didn’t like the way that he was moving, which is why we held him once we got down. So he’ll be a game-time decision.”
Federiko suffered a knee injury against Georgia Tech in the opening game of the ACC Tournament last week. He played 26 minutes in that game, going 7 for 7 from the field and scoring 19 points.
In Pitt’s next game against Duke, Federiko played just 12 minutes, scoring four points and grabbing one rebound in Pitt’s crushing loss.
“We need everyone to be ready to go, and everyone will be ready to go.”
Federiko has been a tremendous addition to the Panthers’ rotation this year, coming in Northern Oklahoma College this season. He is currently averaging seven points and 5.6 rebounds per game in his sophomore campaign.
Behind Federiko, Pitt will look to reserve big man Guillermo Diaz-Graham and his brother Jorge, who Capel calls a guard, but stands at 6-foot-11. Pitt has a tall task at hand against No. 11 seed Mississippi State and leading scorer Tolu Smith, who stands at 6-foot-11, 245 pounds and averaged more than eight points per game.
No Federiko equals loss! No offense to the twins but they’re still growing and putting on weight and getting stronger. They can hold up against MS’s big man.