Sports

Tray is on the way.

Pitt junior point guard Tray Woodall admits he still isn't 100 percent recovered from his injured groin, waking up an hour early every morning to ease the soreness and "just to get up and stretch before I start my day."

He heavily wraps his groin and upper leg for every practice and receives pregame injections to deal with the pain.

"I feel like an old man," he said.

But even less than perfect, Woodall's impact was clear as the Panthers (12-9, 1-7 Big East) snapped an eight-game losing streak with an 86-74 victory over Providence on Wednesday night.

The 5-foot-11 Woodall had 17 points, nine assists and one turnover in 29 minutes while making all four 3-pointers he attempted. Overall, the Panthers' numbers painted a more dramatic return.

With Woodall leading the offense, Pitt:

>> Recorded 22 assists, the second-most in the past 18 games dating to mid-November.

>> Committed 10 turnovers, the second-fewest in the past 12 games.

>> Shot 55 percent from 3-point range (11 for 20), its best effort in nearly two months.

Senior Ashton Gibbs scored 22 points, including five 3-pointers, his most since Dec. 6 against VMI.

"I'm glad he's back," Gibbs said. "The best is yet to come for him and this team."

The correlation between Woodall's return and Pitt's efficient offensive attack was obvious.

"Call it coincidence," coach Jamie Dixon said, "but I think there are a couple things that factor into it. Most teams are more confident when they have their point guard on the floor. I think you could probably do a general survey and come away with a consensus on that one."

Woodall was 0 for 10 with no points in his previous two games, but the fatigue that plagued him in his abbreviated Dec. 27 return at Notre Dame and the rust that hampered him in Saturday's return to the starting lineup against Louisville were gone.

"It's still the same pain but not to the same extent," Woodall said. "I'll be all right. ... Saturday, I felt comfortable. It was my first game. I didn't think I had enough legs under me. I think (Wednesday) I just went out there and played basketball and didn't worry about my legs."

Woodall went down with a season-ending knee injury as a freshman, but recovering from that pales in comparison to what he has endured with the groin injury sustained Nov. 30 against Duquesne that sidelined him for about eight weeks. He credited Pitt's athletic training staff, notably head trainer Tony Salesi and Dr. Robin West of UPMC, for his recovery.

"Everybody is doing a great job helping me to take steps to get through this," he said, "because this is the worst injury I've ever had in my life."

Even with the win, the Panthers remain tied for last place in the Big East heading into their ESPN game with No. 9 Georgetown (16-3, 6-2) on Saturday at Petersen Events Center.

"I definitely think we can get back to what we were," Woodall said. "We've just got to keep working and keep fighting."

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