Baye Moussa Keita sprained his right knee in the first half of No. 1 Syracuse’s 57-44 win over Clemson on Sunday and is listed as day-to-day moving forward, according to SU Athletics spokesman Pete Moore.

“Hopefully Baye will be okay,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “We don’t have any ideas, but we hope that it wasn’t too bad, and that we can get him back quickly. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Sophomore forward Jerami Grant filled in for Keita, playing 8:40 at center in the second half while Rakeem Christmas sat on the bench with four fouls. Keita finished with two points and a rebound in five minutes.

He’s averaging 15.8 minutes per game on the season.

“I’m not concerned about it,” Grant said. “Baye’s a tough player. I feel like he’ll be back for Pitt.”

After double-teaming Landry Nnoko in the corner with 7:02 left in the first half, Keita rotated back to the hoop as Jaron Blossomgame rose up for a dunk. Keita fouled the Tigers freshman forward before coming down on his right leg awkwardly, Moore said.

He subbed out after Blossomgame’s first free throw and quickly returned to the locker room after trainer Brad Pike looked at the injury.

“I realized he was hurt,” Grant said. “He was calling for a sub. I saw him on the bench holding his knee.”

Keita returned to the bench for the second half in his long, warm-up pants and watched the rest of the game from the sideline.

Walking through the locker room after the game, Keita had a noticeable limp in his right leg.

Moore said to expect an update on Monday on Keita’s status for the Orange’s game against Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

“If Baye is not able to go Wednesday, it is a little concerning because they’re a team that likes to get it inside,” C.J. Fair said. “They’re going to want to take advantage of that opportunity.”

Published on February 10, 2014 at 1:10 am

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