Pitt C Federiko Federiko Limited Against Duke with Knee Pain
GREENSBORO -- The Pitt Panthers were trying futilely to contend with the Duke Blue Devils' deadly combination of size, strength and skill. They were overmatched from the start and it didn't help that one of their most important frontcourt pieces tried to play through some pain.
It didn't help that the Panthers were forced to play without their starting center, Federiko Federiko, a 6'11 sophomore, one of the best interior defenders in the conference and a source of strength for his team in the middle on both offense and defense, was not moving well during the Panthers' 96-69 loss to Duke in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, prompting head coach Jeff Capel to sit him for most of the game.
"He had two fouls in the first half, so we sat him," Capel said. "He did tweak his knee in yesterday's game, and once we started them in the second half, I didn't like the way he was moving, and we just decided to sit him."
Federiko spent most of the second half on the bench with a wrap around his right knee. He scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Panthers' second round matchup with Georgia Tech a day ago. He took a hard fall in the second half of that game but stayed on the court for the rest of the afternoon.
The Diaz Graham twins - Jorge and Guillermo - fought admirably throughout the second half. Jorge played 22 minutes, scoring five points, forcing two steals and grabbing three rebounds, and Guillermo tallied 14 points and eight rebounds over 28 minutes.
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