Pitt rode the energy of a packed Petersen Events Center on Saturday for a big 99-82 win over Syracuse. It was a display of the Panthers imposing their will to play their style of basketball — hitting on 3-pointers, winning on rebounds and defense and playing with energy.
“It’s one of them,” coach Jeff Capel said about Saturday’s win being Pitt’s best of the season. “I thought Northwestern was another. We did an unbelievable job of attacking the zone.”
The Panthers’ win put them at 21-8 on the season, 14-4 in the ACC, and at the top of the conference standings with just three games to play. And with the losses by No. 6 Virginia to North Carolina and No. 13 Miami to Florida State, the Panthers can clinch a share of the ACC title with a win over Notre Dame on Wednesday.
And the Panthers can do that by playing their style of basketball, just like they did Saturday.
Good
Pitt is a team that thrives off playing team basketball and hitting its 3-pointers. Against Syracuse, Pitt finished with a season-high of 27 assists. It was the 19th time the Panthers finished with at least 12 assists in a game this season, and they’re 17-2 when they accomplish that feat.
“We were really focused on getting the ball to the middle of the zone,” point guard Nelly Cummings said after the game. “We made plays out of that. And defensively, we just really locked into the scouting report. We executed everything the coaches told us.”
The Panthers only had a 37-33 lead at halftime, but that was only because their shots weren’t falling. Capel felt his players got the looks they wanted and instead of switching up the game plan, Pitt just needed to keep playing its game.
“In the second half, we made shots,” Capel said. “We had shots in the first half; we just didn’t make them. I was pleased we put some stops together at the end of the first half to give us a lead. At halftime, we said, ‘Keep taking those shots. Keep moving the ball and keep making stops. We’ll make shots this half.’ And then, we did.”
The Panthers shot 31.4% from the field and 23.8% on 3-pointers in the first half, then turned that around to shoot 63.6% from the field and 55% on 3-pointers in the second half.
But it wasn’t just shooting that won the game for the Panthers; they played their brand of basketball. It’s been their identity to play good defense, outrebound opponents, play assist-driven offense and make 3-pointers.
Pitt checked all of those boxes with its win.
Bad (for Syracuse)
The Panthers showed just how good of a rebounding team they can be, and it’s another example of how Capel has coached the players to give effort across the board to accomplish their goals.
Pitt outrebounded Syracuse 37-31 and held an offensive rebound advantage of 18-11. It led to the Panthers’ 25-11 advantage in second-chance points, which was a major advantage Pitt leaned on all game.
“It was huge,” Capel said of Pitt’s offensive rebounding. “We emphasized in practice, scouting and our walkthroughs that those opportunities would be there. With the way we shot the basketball, we knew the zone could be more extended. That kept us afloat in the first half when we couldn’t make a shot.”
Pitt entered Saturday with a +3.3 rebounding margin, the third-best in the ACC. But what’s different from the Panthers’ rebounding advantages over the top two rebounding ACC teams in North Carolina and Duke is who gets the rebounds.
North Carolina’s 6-foot-11 forward Armando Bacot leads the conference with 10.9 rebounds per game and the next closest teammate averages four fewer rebounds. Duke’s 7-foot center Kyle Filipowski leads his team with 9.1 rebounds per game and the next closest is a player who averages almost three rebounds fewer per game.
Pitt’s leading rebounder is Blake Hinson with an average of 6.2. But right behind him is Fede Federiko at 5.7 rebounds per game, Jamarius Burton at 4.7 and Greg Elliott at 4.1. The Panthers lean less on a single player and more on a holistic effort.
That was the case against Syracuse, when Pitt’s leading rebounder was Burton with nine and Federiko and Hinson tied for six each. It was another exhibit of how Capel has gotten the sum of Pitt’s players to come together for the effort that wins.
Ugly (for Syracuse)
Pitt owned an 11-5 turnover advantage over Syracuse and capitalized off the Orange’s mistakes to maintain a 21-8 advantage in points scored off turnovers. Greg Elliott led the charge on defense with three steals and Guillermo Diaz Graham contributed with two blocks.
Add in the fact that Pitt avoided Jim Boeheim’s staple 2-3 zone all night to stay away from turnovers and didn’t flinch when Syracuse switched into a full-court press and you have a dominant performance.
That’s best illustrated by the 27-5 assist-to-turnover ratio for Pitt, its best of the season. The Panthers may not have played their best game of the season, but they put their best foot forward to take advantage of the opportunities they created by sticking to their plan.
Christopher Carter: ccarter@post-gazette.com and on Twitter @CarterCritiques
First Published: February 26, 2023, 3:00 p.m.
Updated: February 27, 2023, 2:01 p.m.
