Temple's DiLeo listed day-to-day
Temple sports news from Philly.com
Temple's DiLeo listed day-to-day
Keith Pompey, Inquirer Staff Writer
Temple wants T.J. DiLeo to have a nice recovery.
A vital role player, the Owls won’t take any chances on the point guard’s right ankle sprain by rushing him back.
“It will just be a day-to-day thing,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said of DiLeo’s game status. “But he’s a tough dude and you certainty don’t want to put him out there when he’s going to hurt himself or his team.”
I personally would be shocked to see DiLeo play in this week's games against Richmond (Wednesday) at the Liacouras Center and versus St. Joe's (Saturday) at Hagan Arena.
The best-case scenerio is that the graduate student has a Grade 1 sprain. According to sprainedankle.me, Grade 1 sprains "usually require a week or two of recovery time."
DiLeo suffered the injury while making his third career start in Saturday’s 83-71 setback at Butler. He sprained his ankle three minutes into the contest while guarding standout guard Rotnei Clarke.
“We tried to deny Clarke the ball,” said DiLeo, who was evaluated on Sunday and Monday. “He cut back the other direction. I tried to plant and cut the other direction and my ankle just rolled over to the outside. I knew right away that something was not good.”
Prior to the game-ending injury, he was on pace for a career performance. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder had two assists in the first two minutes, 23 seconds. The four assists he produced against St. Bonaventure on Jan. 19 are his career high.
Temple can only hope DiLeo heals sooner than later. He has been more consistent than point guard Will Cummings, who started the Owls’ first 18 games. DiLeo, not Cummings, is usually on the floor late in games.
DiLeo is averaging three points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He has 10 turnovers compared to 25 by Cummings.
Pompey is a native Philadelphian and a University of Pittsburgh graduate. Follow him on Twitter @pompeysgridlock. Reach Keith at kpompey@phillynews.com.
