Johnson’s late surge lifts Pitt
Overcomes early skid in victory vs. Miami
Elbow jumper. Pull-up in the paint. Corner 3-pointer. Just inside the half-court logo.
For 42 minutes, Xavier Johnson did nothing but shoot.
He groaned when he missed, and he held his hand an extra second in admiration when he hit nothing but net. Johnson’s father,
Michael, rebounded for the Pitt guard
Sunday afternoon in a mostly empty Petersen Events Center. The only people left were a couple of family members and the custodial staff.
This was Johnson’s way of moving on from a difficult — and, as coach Jeff Capel put it, “hesitant” — game.
Pitt narrowly escaped with a 6257 win against Miami thanks to Johnson, in more ways than one. The sophomore with NBA potential not yet honed hit a 3-pointer with 2:25 to go in regulation, giving Pitt (14-8, 5-6 ACC) a 54-53 lead. Johnson nailed a jumper 16 seconds later and then converted a layup through contact with 40 seconds left Sunday in a grind-it-out affair.
That was the good. The bad?
Before Johnson’s little burst — one that helped seal Pitt’s 14th win this season, already matching its 201819 total — the Virginia native struggled mightily. Those three shots aside, Johnson connected on 3 of 18 attempts. And that late 3-ball was the only one of seven tries he hit from distance.
Now, Johnson wasn’t alone. Pitt shot 36.4% as a team, its fourthworst clip of the season. It was the Panthers’ second-worst mark since their Nov. 15 loss to West Virginia.
Trey McGowens, who led the team with 17 points, shot 5 of 16 from the field, and Au’Diese Toney — whose 13 points at halftime paced the Panthers — made only 1 of 8 attempts in the second half.
Capel said Sunday “wasn’t pretty,” and boy was that an understatement. But Johnson, McGowens and the Panthers pushed through Miami’s 2-3 zone to close out the Hurricanes (11-10, 38).
“Their zone bothered us. … We let it get in our head,” Capel said. “Guys lost confidence, and we stopped attacking. We played on our heels. And that’s why the last three minutes were so good. We forgot everything that happened up to that point, and we focused on that moment.
“At the under-4-minute media timeout, we talked about that. Forget everything that’s happened. It’s 0-0 right now. I think there was 3:54 left on the clock. We need to win this 3:54. And forget about everything. Concentrate on right now and finish.”
That’s what the Panthers managed to do … after some further instruction from Capel.
Johnson air-balled a jumper seconds after the timeout ended, double-clutching with indecision. Johnson laughed when he recalled what happened next, saying Capel yelled at him and told him to “shoot the ball.” “I said, ‘Aight, coach,’ ” Johnson added. “And next thing you know, I made them.”
Perhaps Pitt’s shooting woes wouldn’t have been as bad if it had Ryan Murphy on the floor.
Murphy, a sharpshooter averaging 10.1 points per game, missed the game Sunday due to a concussion that occurred Thursday in practice. Capel said he’s “not sure” when he’ll return to action.
“Depends on how he’s recovering,” Capel added.
After the airball, Johnson snapped for three buckets, and McGowens converted four free throws in the final 16 seconds to close a clutch final stretch for Pitt’s ballhandlers. Toney chipped in three rebounds in the final three minutes, adding to Pitt’s rare dominance on the glass. The Panthers outrebounded Miami, 40-31, with 17 offensive boards to the Hurricanes’ 7.
But with their poor shooting, the Panthers hardly did anything with extra opportunities, scoring eight second-chance points. There was even a possession early in the second half in which the Panthers snared four offensive rebounds — and missed five shots. It was indicative of the day Pitt was having.
Fortunately for Capel and his guys, Miami did nothing to really capitalize. The Hurricanes — who were without starting guards Chris Lykes (15.7 points per game) and Kameron McGusty (13.9 points per game) — closed Pitt’s advantage and even took the lead twice in the second half. But Jim Larranaga’s squad tried its best to match the Panthers shooting futility, hitting 19 of 49 shots (38.6%) and 3 of 22 from 3 -point range (13.6%).
Larranaga’s move to a 2-3 zone in the second half was a “smart decision,” Capel said.
“When a guy is not guarding you and you’re missing shots, that can get in your head,” he added. But Johnson and the Panthers found a way out of their funk in time.
“I’m so proud of how we stepped up,” Capel said. “Really proud of us.”