Louisville vs. Pittsburgh: Return of Tray Woodall Will Aid Panthers' Victory

The act or result of helping; assistance, is the definition of aid, according to thefreedictonary.com. Is there a better aid in the Big East than Tray Woodall of the Pittsburgh Panthers?

When healthy, Woodall is one of the best point guards in the country. His return will give the Panthers a victory Saturday night against Louisville at the Petersen Events Center.

Pittsburgh experimented with Preseason Big East Player of the Year Ashton Gibbs at the point guard position, but that was pretty much a failure. He is a shooting guard that needs to be worked off screens in order to get shots. Playing with the ball, off the dribble is not his strong-suit.

He was asked to be the leading scorer and distribute to teammates that struggle collectively to score the rock. It was destined to fail.

Gibbs has shot 38.3 percent from the floor and 34.1 percent from beyond the arc, easily career-lows. Now that Woodall returns, Gibbs can move to the two which will make him more comfortable on the offensive side of the floor.

He can return to doing what he does best and that’s score the basketball. Expect Gibbs to have a great game.

In Pittsburgh’s seven-straight losses Woodall has either been injured or hasn’t been 100 percent healthy on the floor.

Woodall has averaged 12.4 points and 7.5 assists this season. His groin injury was extremely unfortunate given how well he has played this season. His points, rebounds, assists, free-throw percentage, shooting percentage and three-point percentage are all career highs. He was blowing his previous numbers out of the water.

His presence was obviously missing.

Even though Pittsburgh has lost eight games this season, we are seeing the potential of a NCAA Tournament team which they wouldn’t be if the season ended today.

They played Syracuse, the No. 1 team in the country, to an eight-point game on Monday night. Pittsburgh shot 39 percent from the floor, 30 percent from three-point range, missed 11 free-throws and received a 4-12, 10 point game from Gibbs.

But easily the biggest doughnut to their loss was from the point guard position. Isaiah Epps didn’t record an assist or a single point.

Despite all of these issues, Pittsburgh lost by eight to the best team in the country on the road. I’m not one for moral victories, but I’m guessing Pittsburgh will feel more confident on Saturday night in front of the Oakland Zoo with their play making point guard in the starting lineup.

Prediction:  Pittsburgh 70, Louisville 67