Pitt HC Jeff Capel Confirms Injury to F John Hugley

PITTSBURGH -- Reports that the Pitt Panthers' star forward John Hugley, last season's leading rebounder and scorer, had suffered a knee injury surfaced 10 days ago.

That report from Corey Crisan of DK Pittsburgh Sports went unconfirmed by the program until now, when Panthers head coach Jeff Capel spoke at ACC media Days and confirmed that Hugley had indeed been sidelined. But Capel said he's optimistic Hugley will be back in time for the start of the regular season.

"Now, he's dealing with an injury," Capel said. "He's been out. We're hopeful to get him back for the first game."

Capel added that he thinks this will help get his reserves more experience with ten days of practice in between Pitt and their first live action against another team - a exhibition against Clarion University at the Petersen Events Center. But Capel knows how key he is to the Panthers' success still expects a lot from Hugley this season.

"John should be our anchor. Last year, John was a guy that was able to command a double team, he was able to score at an efficient rate down there, especially when he was single-covered. ... I thought John was a good player last year, sometimes a really good player. We want him to consistently be a really good player."

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