RALEIGH, N.C. — After stringing together a trio of victories over mid-major opponents on its home court last week, Jeff Capel’s team entered this week with an opportunity to make a statement. With both games on this week’s schedule now in the rearview mirror, it’s safe to say that statement was indeed made.
Following a blowout victory Monday evening at Northwestern, the Panthers remained red-hot Friday night, defeating NC State 68-60 on the road at PNC Bank Arena.
The contest, early on, had all the makings of a Pitt regression. Just five minutes in, the Panthers’ top scorer Blake Hinson was sent to the bench after being assessed his second personal foul. With him off the floor, Pitt became careless with the basketball, committing nine first half turnovers. Add in a slow start from John Hugley IV and Capel’s group had every reason needed to fall apart. But, instead, it came together as a collective whole.
A unified team effort on both ends of the floor allowed the Panthers (6-3, 1-0) to take a 33-28 lead over the Wolfpack (7-2, 0-1) into the locker room. And in the second half, Pitt’s efforts only improved.
“I’m really, really proud of my team,” Capel said following the win. “Just a tough effort to be on the road in our first game in the ACC against an outstanding opponent.”
Continued defensive success, which included nine forced turnovers in the second half, along with a lively offensive presence from the inside allowed the Panthers to grind out their fifth straight victory. Twice in the second half, the Wolfpack went on runs to trim a double-digit Pitt lead down to just two possessions. Yet, after taking a moment to regroup during both occurrences, the Panthers responded with a 3-pointer each time to kill NC State’s momentum.
“That’s just us executing like we know how to,” Jamarius Burton said following the win. “For us, we like to take good shots. The ball doesn’t have any eyes – it doesn’t care who’s shooting. We just like to keep an offensive rhythm going.”
If the ball did have eyes, most of its attention Friday night was directed toward Burton, who led the way for Pitt with a season-high 24 points. Blake Hinson and Nike Sibande also scored in double figures for the Panthers, tallying 13 and 10 points respectively.
Key stat: While Pitt hit its share of big shots in the victory, the Panthers’ win was defined by NC State’s many misses. The Wolfpack shot just 35% from the field and 22% from 3-point-range.
“I’m proud of our whole defense, for everything that we did,” Capel said. “We competed for 40 minutes. There are some things we have to improve – certainly defensive rebounding – but, to be able to come on the road, first ACC game for a lot of these guys, in a hostile environment against an outstanding team, a team that was averaging 83 points a game and to hold them to 60, that’s a big time performance.”
Key players like Jarkel Joiner and Casey Marsell were locked down by Pitt’s strong backcourt defense. The duo, who both entered Friday averaging over 15 points a game, ended with just 10 points combined, with Morsell scoring nine of them.
“It’s crazy,” Sibande said when asked about the two NC State standout’s low scoring totals. “We weren’t expecting to do that coming into the game. We just wanted to play the best defense that we could and contain them the best we could. Those are great players who can make really tough shots, but today went our way.”
Quotable: In the past two games, the man many believe to be the top player on Pitt’s roster has scored just two total points. Once again, John Hugley IV struggled to find a rhythm for the Panthers, ending his team’s win over NC State with just two points and no rebounds.
When asked about his star center’s struggles, Capel didn’t hold back.
“He's got to play better. That’s the bottom line,” Capel said. “The opportunities are there. John is really, really important for us and he’s got to play better.”
Sophomore forward Fede Federiko stepped up in Hugley’s place Friday evening, logging 25 minutes where he tallied six points, a pair of rebounds and blocked a shot.
Up next: Pitt will conclude its streak of three straight road contests next week as it travels to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 9 p.m. The Commodores (3-4) will hope to be .500 when the Panthers roll into town, as they’re set to host Wofford Saturday afternoon in non-conference play. Thursday’s game will be televised on SEC Network.
Wednesday’s battle between Pitt and Vanderbilt will be just the second time the two programs have met in the regular season – the Commodores won the first matchup, which took place last season, by a final of 68-52 in Pittsburgh. Vanderbilt also defeated Pitt 80-74 in the second round of the 1988 NCAA tournament.
Noah Hiles: nhiles@post-gazette.com and Twitter @_NoahHiles
First Published: December 3, 2022, 2:16 a.m.
Updated: December 3, 2022, 11:08 a.m.
