Pittsburgh junior point guard Tray Woodall hopes to return from his abdomen/groin injury this weekend against Louisville.
“I want to play Saturday,” Woodall told SNY.tv.” It’s College GameDay. Who would want to miss that?”
Woodall participated in contact drills Thursday for the first time since the Notre Dame game Dec. 27 and said he “felt good” but still had to be cleared.
The Brooklyn-born and Paterson, N.J.-raised Woodall was averaging 14.1 points, a team-leading 8.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds when he suffered the injury while sliding Nov. 30 against Duquesne.
After missing six games, Woodall returned prematurely Dec. 27 in a 72-59 loss at Notre Dame, but failed to score in 18 minutes.
“The Notre Dame game was way too early,” said Woodall. “I wasn’t ready.”
Pitt is 11-8 overall, 0-6 in the Big East.
Louisville (14-5, 2-4), meantime, has endured its own rash of injuries.
Eight players have missed at least one game this season, and now junior forward Rakeem Buckles is lost for this season and next with a knee injury. The Cards were already missing shooter Mike Marra (ACL) and freshman guard Wayne Blackshear (shoulder)
Louisville coach Rick Pitino added Thursday that top wing Kyle Kuric is “doubtful” for Saturday.
“I don’t think we have an identity because we’ve had so many different lineups, so right now we’re just trying to survive and win and we’ll keep on doing that,” he said.
