There’s a brief listing for the prime second of the season for Pitt males’s basketball.
It can be laborious to prime Damarco Minor’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to carry Pitt over Ohio State at home Nov. 28. Similarly, the Panthers’ 34-point thrashing of Penn State on Dec. 21 in Hershey was spectacular.
But Pitt’s dominant street victory Saturday at California, a 20-win crew with NCAA Tournament aspirations, has rapidly shot up the listing.
“I thought we played really well,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel stated. “Obviously, Cal is a very good team. I think they’re a team that’s worthy of being in the NCAA Tournament. They reminded me of a little bit of our team a few years ago that made the NCAA Tournament. Two really good guards that handle the ball, two forwards who can really shoot and a big guy that is coming off of injury but protects the rim, rebounds and scores around the basket.”
As far as Pitt’s league schedule is anxious, Cal ranks as the best win of the season. The Panthers’ different convention victory have come towards last-place Georgia Tech (Jan. 14), in extra time towards Wake Forest (Jan. 27) and Notre Dame (Feb. 21).
Like Pitt (11-18, 4-12 ACC), Wake Forest and Notre Dame are on the ACC Tournament bubble, seeking to safe a spot over the final two convention video games of the common season.
Pitt hopes to hold the momentum from the Cal win into its home finale towards Florida State (15-14, 8-8) on Wednesday.
“Certainly, we had and have a lot of respect for them,” Capel stated of the Bears. “But I thought we played really well. We shared the basketball, did a very, very good job defensively forcing turnovers, had nine steals in the first half and we were able to make some shots.”
Pitt additionally held California to 1-for-13 capturing on 3-pointers in the second half, and the Bears shot 5 of 22 (22.7%) general from past the arc.
While Florida State would not possess a standout particular person 3-point shooter, the Seminoles hearth from lengthy vary continuously, averaging simply over 32 makes an attempt and 10 made 3s per night time.
Five gamers have tried a minimum of 112 3-pointers: Robert McCray, who leads the crew with 15.6 factors per sport, Chauncey Wiggins, Lajae Jones, Martin Somerville and Kobe Magee.
“Obviously, with as many 3s as they shoot, especially if they’re hot and get going, they can put up points very, very quickly,” Capel stated.
Although Florida State started ACC play with a five-game skid, the Seminoles have received seven of their final 9 video games.
Playing away from home additionally hasn’t been a problem for first-year coach Luke Loucks’ squad, as Florida State has received its previous 4 street video games (vs. Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Georgia Tech).
“They’ve been playing very well as of late,” Capel stated. “They have a really distinctive model from the standpoint of capturing quite a bit of 3s. They have quite a bit of guys on the courtroom that may dribble, cross and shoot. They have nice spacing and appear to share the ball rather well.
“McCray is playing as well as anyone in our league. He’s the guy who stirs everything for them. Their defense of switching man and a mixture of one — I think they’re playing really well.”
