Last Sunday, it was determined that Pitt guard Ashton Gibbs would miss the next 10-14 days due to an MCL injury. Since then, Pitt has gone 2-0, coming away with impressive road wins at West Virginia and Villanova.
It’s been eight days since Gibbs’ injury was announced, and by the time Pitt tips off with South Florida on Wednesday night, it will have been 10 days. Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said Gibbs’ rehab has been pretty steady, but there’s no determination as of Monday whether or not Gibbs will play Wednesday.
“We’ll see what the doctors say tomorrow and see if there’s any residual effect of going harder today (in practice) and doing some residual effect of going a little harder today and going through some stuff,” Dixon said. “It’s gone well. It’s gone as anticipated and he feels good. He said he felt good when he was not playing on it during the game. We can’t go too much on how he feels. We have to go by what the doctors see on the MRI.”
Gibbs practiced with the team on Monday, in what was mostly a recovery day for the team. Pitt took a bus to Saturday’s game at Villanova, and returned to Pittsburgh just before 6 am on Sunday morning. Monday’s practice consisted of some shooting. Though Gibbs practiced, he was held out of contact drills.
“Ashton played, felt good,” Dixon added. “It wasn’t with contact. He’ll be evaluated (Tuesday), then we’ll see how it goes.”
The biggest part in Gibbs’ potential return Wednesday, will be what results from the latest MRI. Gibbs feels fine, and even felt fine before. An MRI will reveal certain things that Gibbs’ pain tolerance might not.
“He didn’t say he was hurt the last time it occurred,” Dixon added. “That’s why he continued to play. He hasn’t really focused on pain. It felt stiff. Now, it’s a week, ten days later. We’ll see how it is. Every day, you’re going to be monitoring it. There’s no question. Even when he starts playing, we’ll be monitoring it on a daily basis.”
Gibbs started in all of Pitt’s 23 games up to the point of his injury. He is still Pitt’s leading scorer, averaging 16.3 points a game.
For more on Gibbs and his injury, here is some additional video from Jamie Dixon’s meeting with the media on Monday.