PITTSBURGH — Fourteen words buried in Jim Boeheim’s 16-minute press conference could have more bearing on Syracuse’s success this season than any other statement he made — or even any play that was made on the court in No. 1 SU’s (24-0, 11-0 Atlantic Coast) 58-56 win over No. 25 Pittsburgh (20-5, 8-4) on Wednesday night.

“Baye (Moussa Keita)’s getting better,” Boeheim said. “We’re hopeful that he could come back, but we won’t know.”

On Tuesday, SU Athletics spokesman Pete Moore said the senior center was expected to return this season. But ever since Keita sprained his right knee in the first half of SU’s win against Clemson on Sunday, Syracuse fans have pondered personally and publicly on Twitter whether his day-to-day status really means he’ll be back soon.

Last month, starting center DaJuan Coleman went from day-to-day with a left knee contusion directly to season-ending surgery. And in the 2009-10 season, Arinze Onuaku suffered a similar fate. The No. 1-seed Orange lost to fifth-seeded Butler in the Sweet 16 that year.

Keita missed practices on Monday and Tuesday to receive treatment and didn’t dress for the Pitt game. He wore long warm-ups and never broke more than a walk until Tyler Ennis’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer sent the whole Orange bench spilling onto the court.

In his place, Jerami Grant played about five minutes at center. Luckily for SU, junior Rakeem Christmas avoided foul trouble against an aggressive Panthers frontcourt.

Said Grant: “A lot of people are going to have to play out of position with him and DaJuan out.”