Panther vets step up to capture road win
Hinson confident with late 3-pointer
Pitt men’s basketball took care of business on Saturday, winning at Florida State, 83-75. Here is the good, bad and the ugly after that win:
Good
When Florida State took the lead with 13:12 to go, things could’ve gone downhill fast for the Panthers. Instead, a combination of veteran plays created space and a subsequent win.
It started with Jamarius Burton hitting a pair of backto-back jumpers. He had only scored three points in the second half by that point but battled through a lot of attention to gain back the lead.
Nike Sibande only played eight minutes in the first half because of early foul trouble. His first points didn’t happen until there was 7:24 remaining in the game and once he started, he didn’t stop.
Sibande scored back-toback 3-pointers, stole the ball to make a layup on the fast break and finished another layup all within 3:07.
Blake Hinson was 0 for 7 in the second half when Burton passed the ball with 2:35 to go. Hinson didn’t hesitate to go up for the 3-pointer and give Pitt a 9-point lead — the largest of the half up until that point.
“These guys are very confident,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “They believe in themselves. They believe in each other. We believe in them. Sometimes as a coach you just gotta have guys to step up and make plays. That’s what we did. ... It’s just a testament to our team.”
It also helped that the Panthers were able to limit Florida State’s free throw opportunities in the final minutes of the game. Pitt put the Seminoles in the double bonus with 3:39 remaining. The Panthers only fouled one more time in the rest of the game — Federiko Federiko fouled Caleb Mills with 22 seconds remaining.
Meanwhile, Pitt capitalized on its free throw opportunities, going 19 of 23 over the whole game, including 9 for 10 in the final two minutes. Burton, Hinson, Sibande and Federiko made their free throws to solidify the 83-75 win.
Following the first time the Seminoles and Panthers met this season, Capel knew his squad needed to be better at offensive rebounding. Pitt only grabbed seven on Jan.
21 but increased that number to 15 on Saturday — the most it has had against any ACC opponent this season.
The Panthers scored 20 points off of those secondchance opportunities. Federiko led the team with seven offensive rebounds to give his teammates another go at scoring. He even scored four points off his own offensive rebounds.
Four of Guillermo Diaz Graham’s six points came off his own grabs. Diaz Graham also kept the play alive after Burton missed a shot. The freshman tipped the ball out to Burton who passed to Greg Elliott for a 3pointer with 9:34 remaining.
“It was huge for us,” Capel said. “That’s something we talked about coming into this game. That we had to take advantage of the way
they switch. A lot of times their big guys would be on our guards. We talked about how we have to win that matchup.”
Bad
Pitt really wanted to limit Florida State’s offense after the Seminoles shot 51% overall and 50% from 3-point range in their 71-64 win against the Panthers four weeks ago.
It was a bit of a give and take as Florida State went 42.4% overall Saturday with a handful of open looks. That includes four dunks by four different players — Matthew Cleveland in the first half and Naheem McLeod, Darin Green Jr. and Jalen Warley in the second.
Long-range shooting was bad for the Seminoles as they shot 5 for 21 from 3 -point range. There wasn’t a player for Florida State that made more than one 3pointer. Green was 1 of 8 after going 5 of 8 at the Petersen Events Center.
“We understood that we weren’t playing the best defense that we could,” Burton said. “We weren’t communicating as best to our ability and securing the rebound. Coach just continues to tell us to keep going.”
The biggest deficiency in Pitt’s defense came against Warley, who had a careerhigh 23 points. Nothing the Panthers threw at the sophomore guard seemed to stifle him as he went 9 of 11 overall, 1 for 1 from 3-point range and 4 for 5 from the charity stripe.
“He got confidence early,” Capel said. “He was able to get to spots. We wanted to go under on ball screens and he made us pay for that. He got to spots and shot overtop of us. He did a really good job. I thought we did a much better job on him in the second half.”
Pitt closed out the game on a good note offensively, but most of the game the Panthers struggled with consistency. It felt like every time they would go on a little bit of a run, the Seminoles would make a shot to keep it close. The Panthers started out strong from 3- point range, connecting on 4 of their first 6 attempts. The ball was moving as Pitt had five assists on seven made baskets by the halfway mark of the first half.
The Panthers had four separate scoring droughts lasting more than two minutes. The longest one came in the second half when there was 3:02 between Burton’s free throw and Graham Diaz’ layup.
“We just think about maximizing the next play,” Sibande said. “Thinking next play mentality and continuing to score in the ways we can.”
Ugly
Bracketologist Mike DeCourcy called Pitt’s loss to Florida State last month “a mulligan.” A win on the road against the Seminoles helps wipe away the ugly loss that happened at home. It also advances the Panthers to 11-3 in conference play.
It wasn’t a pretty game for either team as no one could seem to gain any space. There were stretches of time where it seemed like neither team could make a shot. The largest lead of the game wouldn’t come until Federiko’s free throws with 1:18 remaining.
The ugliest part was how much the Seminoles allowed Pitt’s different scoring options to succeed. Only Burton and Hinson scored in double-digits in last month’s matchup. Burton, Hinson, Elliott and Sibande had little issues finding the basket on Sunday.
Burton and Hinson led with 19 points apiece, followed by Elliott with 13 and Sibande at 12.
“It’s a beautiful thing when you have multiple weapons,” Burton said. “It’s a hard thing to scout. It’s a hard thing to guard. For us, it’s just about putting each player where they can be effective.”