Louisville PG Carlik Jones will play against Pitt

After missing Louisville’s 85-48 bludgeoning at the hands of Wisconsin on Saturday, Carlik Jones will be back on the court for the Cards when they face Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

Chris Mack said during his Monday press conference that the Radford graduate transfer was all clear to be back in action on Tuesday. It was a statement that reiterated what he said on Saturday when asked if Jones would be available for the Pitt game.

“He’ll be back,” Mack said. “He’ll be back when we play again. There’s a gradual progression that every school makes up. The NCAA sort of gives guidelines, but doesn’t mandate it. And so, we made those protocols a long time ago. We’re just following them.”

Jones is the only player in the ACC to rank among the top 15 in each of scoring (7th in the ACC, 17.3 ppg), rebounding (15th, 7.0 rpg) and assists (4th, 5.3 apg). Last season at Radford, the graduate transfer was the only player in the nation to average at least 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, and was one of just 16 players in Division I men’s basketball to do so since the 1996-97 season.

There had been some concern about Tuesday night’s game being played after news broke over the weekend that Pitt coach Jeff Capel had tested positive for Covid-19. As of this moment, the game is still set to be played.

How does that make any sense? Who the hell knows at this point, but if the game does wind up being played, Carlik Jones will be in uniform.