BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Miami point guard Rob Mestas will miss four to six weeks with a small cartilage tear in his left knee.
Mestas injured the knee three minutes into Miami's 68-62 victory over Tennessee on Thursday night. Mestas hurt the knee when he drove the length of floor to score his only basket of game.
Dr. Ken Funk, Miami's team physician, will perform arthroscopic surgery on the knee today in Cincinnati.
Mestas missed all but four games last year, after having three surgeries on his right knee.
If Mestas is out four weeks, he'll miss six games. Six weeks would mean eight games.
Damon Frierson will fill in for Mestas at point guard, as he did last year. Anthony Taylor, who started 29 games last year but has been coming off the bench this year, will probably start.
"My concern is for Rob," MU coach Charlie Coles said. "I hope he's OK. But selfishly I'm going to miss him because there's no question we're a better team with him. We can play faster. We can pressure more on defense."
Frierson is a capable point guard. He had six assists and one turnover Thursday.
"Damon did a great job," Miami's Wally Szczerbiak said. "He gave up himself to help us win."
