Pit's Jermaine Dixon breaks his foot

Jamie Dixon's Pitt Panthers have not had an off-season to remember. They lost four starters from last year's team (including Sam Young, DeJuan Blair, and Levance Fields). Then sixth man Gilbert Brown was suspended for the first semester as a result of poor academics.

Now, Dixon's top returning player Jermaine Dixon (no relation) has broken his foot for the second time this summer.

Jermaine Dixon will miss about two months with a broken foot.
(photo credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

On Wednesday morning, Dixon had surgery to repair a fracture to his fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot, the same foot he broke earlier in the summer. He suffered the injury in a pick-up game, and is expected to be out two months.

If Dixon can catch a couple breaks (pun intended), he should be ready to go by the time Pitt plays their first game against Wofford on November 13th. But with Midnight Madness just a month away, he will be missing most, if not all, of Pitt's pre-season practices.

"We fully expect Jermaine to make a full recovery," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said Thursday via a released statement. "The surgery was a success and we know that Jermaine will work hard during the rehabilitation process."

Along with being one of Pitt's best perimeter defenders, Dixon, who averaged 8.4 ppg last season, is going to see an increase in how much the Panthers rely on him offensively. An athlete has to be in peak physical condition to handle the rigors of Big East basketball, and asking Dixon to be able to perform at his highest level coming off of surgery is a difficult task.

Pitt shouldn't be challenged until the November 23rd, when they face Wichita State and Iowa or Texas in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Classic. With any luck, Dixon will be ready to go by then.