Late in the first half of their ACC game at Miami on Saturday night, Virginia Tech center Mylyjael Poteat went down after a Hurricanes player accidentally tripped into his knee. Poteat went down and was down on the court for a few minutes before being helped up and to the locker room.
He returned for the second half, but never got off the bench as he watched his teammates score 43 points on Miami to win going away, 81-68, behind a strong performance from their bench. Patrick Wessler played a huge role in the victory off the bench in place of Poteat, while sophomore Jaydon Young dropped a career-high 27 points.
Following the game, head coach Mike Young had a somewhat positive update on Poteat and you knew when they got back to Blacksburg, his injury would be looked at more in-depth. On Monday, the veteran coach provided an update on his center.
Mike Young gives an injury update on center Mylyjael Poteat
Virginia Tech begins a stretch of three straight home games on Tuesday night when Louisville comes to town and it won’t be an easy game against the Cardinals who are tied for second-place with Clemson. It doesn’t sound like the Hokies are going to have their center available.
"Structurally, he's fine,’’ Young said. “He still has some swelling. I don't think I had ever heard of a bone bruise in my career until a couple years ago. It is a bone bruise. I'm not sure about his availability tomorrow.
"I think we'll need to get to day of game before I know for sure, but nothing structural, no ligament damage, nothing of the sort. We'll have him back, I hope it's tomorrow. I do not think he's going to be on the shelf very long at all, certainly hope not."
Not rushing him back is a no-brainer. It is highly unlikely that Poteat will play against Louisville and even with him it was going to be a tall order and without him would make it an even higher mountain for Virginia Tech to climb. Considering how the injury looked at the time, this is a promising update from Mike Young.