The Pittsburgh Panthers are close to tipping off with the Washington State Cougars and will be without Big East Player of The Year Ashton Gibbs, as the senior guard is out with an ankle injury.

No Ashton Gibbs for Pitt.Pre-season Big East player of year has ankle injury.No Brock for Cougs. #GoCougs

— Bud Nameck (@budname) March 28, 2012

Gibbs leads Pitt in scoring with 14.6 points per game and leads the team in three-point shots made. Without Gibbs in the line up, the Pitt offense is going to take a pretty significant hit against the Cougars. In the matchup on Monday against Wazzu, Gibbs picked up just seven points on the night, but that was an atypical performance for the senior in the one-point loss.

We'll have complete coverage of the CBI Championship series in this StoryStream, but for more on the CBI Finals and Pitt basketball, check out SB Nation Pitt blog, Cardiac Hill.