Basketball: Dixon fractures foot, out about 8 weeks

After having surgery to place a pin in his right foot, Pitt basketball star Jermaine Dixon will… After having surgery to place a pin in his right foot, Pitt basketball star Jermaine Dixon will miss the rest of the summer but should be ready for the start of the season.

Dixon said he has a hairline fracture in his right foot and expects to be sidelined for about eight weeks, so if his rehab goes as scheduled, he will be ready when practice starts in October.

Even though he had surgery Monday morning, that night he watched his teammates compete in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Pro-Am at the Greentree SportsPlex. Dixon had a cast on his foot, used crutches to get around and said his foot felt very sore.

Dixon was playing in the summer league until the injury and probably played with the injury for a while, as he’s not exactly sure when he fractured his foot. He said he thinks it might have been about a month ago when he stepped on another player’s foot in a pickup game but kept playing.

“That could’ve been the initial thing, but last week I was playing pickup and again stepped on someone else’s foot,” Dixon said. “I don’t really know where [the injury] came from.”

Dixon is the only returning starter from last year’s team that went to the Elite Eight, and his average of 8.4 points per game from last season is the most of any returning player. He’s also the only senior on this year’s squad, despite it being only his second year at Pitt. Before last season, Dixon transferred from Tallahassee Community College.

As the team’s only senior, Dixon figures not only to have a more important role on the court, but said he expects to be a leader for the young Panthers, who have six freshmen this year.

“It’s definitely frustrating, especially sitting out here watching my teammates play,” Dixon said. “But I want to be healthy for them during the year, so better [to be hurt] now than in November or December.”