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Syracuse vs. Pitt: Baye Moussa Keita's Status Unknown

BMK hurt his knee against Clemson, forcing the Orange to rely on out-of-position help on defense. Will he be back in time to make sure it doesn't continue?

By Sean Keeley
Brett Carlsen

The big question coming out of the Syracuse Orange's win over the Clemson Tigers on Sunday was…will Baye Moussa Keita be okay in time for Wednesday's game against the Pittsburgh Panthers? And the answer, like it always is with injured Syracuse big men, is…no one knows.

SU coach Jim Boeheim said today he had no update on the status of Orange center Baye Moussa Keita, who sprained his right knee in the first half of Sunday's Syracuse win over Clemson.

..."You hope you can get foul trouble on them in any game that you play," he said during the weekly ACC basketball coaches' teleconference. "You gotta get fouls on them. You gotta get offensive rebounds. I don't think it'll change a lot of what we do. Unless we get foul trouble on their starting center -- Christmas -- it won't really change too many things."

As for Keita himself, he says the knee hurts but he's just taking things day-by-day.

Keita said the knee "hurt just a little bit."

"I definitely feel like I'm going to be back soon," he said. "I'm just going to take it game-by-game and see how I feel."

As he did against Clemson, it looks like Jerami Grant will see increased time in the center spot in preparation for the Pitt game Wednesday night.

"He'll practice there. That's about all we can do at this point," Boeheim said. "He has practiced a little bit there before, but not a lot. He will practice in there this week."

The truth is, even if Boeheim had said Keita looked fine and he's probably be back, I still wouldn't believe him. Boeheim is notorious for underplaying big man injuries (See: Onuaku, Arinze; Coleman, Dajuan). If anything, the fact that Boeheim isn't willing to say something positive about the injury makes me feel weirdly better. Like, he didn't feel the need to oversell, or something.

My guess? He's not coming back for Pitt. But…I get the sense he'll be back soon thereafter. Then again, who the hell knows?

We know there's always something each season for Syracuse. Let's all just hope this is as far as it goes.

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