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Pitt’s awesomely efficient offense may take a dip Saturday

spt-111201-woodall

Mike Miller

UPDATE: Pitt coach Jamie Dixon announced Woodall will miss a month due to injuries.

Pitt’s offense may not be quite as crisp Saturday when it faces Tennessee. And it has nothing to do with the Volunteers’ defense.

Junior point guard Tray Woodall left their win against Duquesne with leg injury, then had an MRI and an X-ray on his groin and abdomen on Thursday. His status is uncertain.

“He’s in a lot of pain, there’s no question about it,” coach Jamie Dixon told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We just want to get all of the data and make sure everyone takes a look at it and sees it before we make any decisions or calls on that.”

Woodall is Pitt’s second-leading scorer (14.1 ppg) and among the nation’s leaders in assists (8.3 apg; though his numbers might be inflated a bit). He’s also playing nearly 32 minutes a game, making him one of the more invaluable players on Dixon’s squad and undoubtedly a large part of D-I’s most efficient offense.

If Woodall can’t go – or plays a vastly reduced role – Dixon told the paper that freshman John Johnson could see an increased role, though freshmen Isaiah Epps and Cameron Wright could do the same.

“We have different guys,” Dixon told the paper. “They’ve all played at different spots. We have practiced those situations. It seems like we’ve been practicing those situations more than we would have liked. We’ve just been in a situation all year long from the start with injuries and the preseason and a couple of guys out, we’ve had to do more things than in the past.”

One thing’s for sure – it won’t be senior shooting guard Ashton Gibbs. His role is to score. No more pseudo-playmaking roles.

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