Freshman center Bourama Sidibe didn’t dress in uniform for Syracuse’s win over Eastern Michigan on Wednesday and Jim Boeheim mentioned postgame that Sidibe could still medically redshirt.

“He can redshirt medically right now at this point,” Boeheim said, “but he can’t play anymore so we’re not going to play him unless we’re sure he can play.”

Sidibe has played in 10 games for Syracuse, most recently in the upset by St. Bonaventure on Dec. 22. Along with tonight’s absence, Sidibe also sat out SU’s games against Colgate on Dec. 9 and against Buffalo on Dec. 19. Sidibe played against Georgetown on Dec. 16, but only recorded 11 minutes.

To be granted a medical hardship waiver by the NCAA and retain a year of eligibility, Syracuse must submit Sidibe’s medical information and he must fulfill two criteria. Sidibe cannot play in the second half of Syracuse’s season and cannot have played in more than 30 percent of the team’s games. SU has 31 games on its regular season schedule. If the Orange assumes just one ACC game and one further postseason contest and Sidibe doesn’t play again, he’ll have played in 10 of 33 games, or 30.3 percent.

If Sidibe were to sit the remainder of the season, SU would be left with just seven active scholarship players, including its lone remaining center, Paschal Chukwu. Marek Dolezaj has spent time backing up Chukwu in the middle of Syracuse’s 2-3 zone in the games Sidibe has missed.

“We’re gonna try to see if he can go a little bit this weekend, this Friday probably the first day just to see what it’s like,” Boeheim said. “If he still has a lot of pain we may wait a little longer, but we’ll just have to be day-to-day and see.”