Pitt finds range in 30-point blowout
Offense finally clicks after 2 poor games
With three minutes remaining and his Northern Illinois team trailing Pitt by 33 Saturday in a game it would go on to lose by 30, 89-59, guard Anthony Crump had a jump shot clang off the rim, the Huskies’ 14th misfire in their past 18 attempts.
As Pitt grabbed the rebound and transitioned into its offense, a comment echoed across a cavernous,
12,508-seat building that, by law, can currently only play host to
500.
“Man, y’all suck,” the female voice said.
It was a blunt, perhaps unnecessarily callous assessment of Northern Illinois’ play, but it was an observation that represented something of an early breakthrough for Pitt. For the first time this season, the Panthers (2-1) had done what ACC programs typically do in such games against lessprivileged teams from smaller conferences — beat them and beat them decisively.
The way in which they earned that victory at
Petersen Events Center may have been the most notable thing of all.
After making just 11 of its 43 3-pointers (25.6%) in its first two games, and after struggling so mightily in that facet of the game last season, Pitt buried 48.3% of its 29 shots from beyond the arc against Northern Illinois (0-3). It finished with 89 points on 65 possessions, giving it, by a wide margin, its best points-per-possession mark of the season. Of the Panthers’ 30 made shots, 26 of them came off assists, a figure indicative of a level of ball movement and fluidity from a program that, in two previous seasons under Jeff Capel, frequently didn’t display such invigorating
traits.
It was, in short, the Panthers’ best, most efficient offensive showing this season and perhaps even of Capel’s tenure.
“Everything was better. I think our team is starting to become more comfortable. We’re starting to figure some things out,” Capel said. “As I go back and think about that first game, it was so weird. It was weird for me. It was eerie. I can’t imagine [what it was like] for an 18-yea- old or 21- or 22-yearold. I just think we’re starting to become a little bit more comfortable. I think we’re starting to gain a little bit more confidence. I think we’re starting to understand each other a little bit more in competition.”
Justin Champagnie led all
scorers with 22 points, making 8 of 13 shots and 4 of 6 3pointers, the latter of which is an encouraging achievement for a player who made just 26.2% of his 3s last season and had missed 5 of 6 attempts this season.
Au’Diese Toney, Xavier Johnson and Ithiel Horton each added 15 points, which
was a season-high for Horton, a transfer from Delaware appearing in his third game with the program. Horton, billed for much of the past year as a solution to Pitt’s woes from 3, made 5 of 10 attempts from deep after going 2 of 6 and averaging just 5 points in the first two contests of the season.
The vast majority of the scoring came from four players — Champagnie, Toney, Johnson and Horton accounted for 67 of Pitt’s 89 points — but in all, 12 players had at least a point.
“Diese had us going the first couple of games,” Champagnie said. “He’s been knocking down his 3s. We all felt like we were leaving him out to dry. He can’t carry the whole burden of the team. We’ve got to pick it up. We just got in the gym, put up shots and everything is starting to come together now.”
It was a reassuring performance beyond just the numbers. The comfort that Capel saw in his team was apparent in many aspects of the game. Players were making correct reads, even when pushing it in transition, carrying over lessons that have been reiterated to them constantly in film sessions and practices. The Panthers were able to pass it well out of the post, something with which they’ve struggled for years, even predating Capel’s hiring in March 2018. Their ball-screen defense, after a slow start, was excellent.
More than anything else, though, there was obvious joy from the players, something that was non-existent in a loss to Saint Francis and in short supply in a 9-point win later that week against Drexel.
“It’s fun to play basketball like that, where everybody’s getting some and everybody’s playing well and nobody can really say ‘Oh,
somebody got looked off,’ ” Champagnie said. “We’re just sharing the ball as a team and playing as a team. It’s just a great feeling.”
That great feeling was palpable in the final minutes, as little-used players and the team’s four walkons took to the court to polish off the blowout. The Panthers’ best players jumped up and down on the sideline as non-scholarship players like Aidan Fisch, Chayce Smith and Curtis Aiken Jr. entered the game. When they contributed, whether it was scoring a basket or grabbing a rebound, those cheers grew even more spirited.
It was a triumphant snapshot in time for the team, both because of the victory and the fashion in which it was achieved. Things will continue to get tougher, though, as virtually all the teams remaining on the Panthers’ schedule will present stiffer tests than Northern Illinois, which lost to SIU Edwardsville by 20 three days earlier.
It’s something of which Capel, pleased as he may be, is well aware.
“Everything’s not fixed right now,” he said. “Today was a good day. But we’ve got to get back and get back on the horse and get working.”