Pitt opens basketball season with exhibition victory against Clarion
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Jeff Capel wasn’t especially concerned about the final score Saturday afternoon at Petersen Events Center.
The fact that six Pitt players contributed double-digit points in an exhibition game against Division II Clarion is something he noticed on the stat sheet and, perhaps, allowed himself one moment to enjoy.
Quickly, however, he moved his eyes and head onto something else as the reconstruction of the Pitt basketball program continues in the early days of the 2022-2023 season.
The first public showing produced a dominant 103-51 victory that was a rout from the outset, thanks to Pitt’s huge advantage in athleticism. Pitt had one fewer point in the first half when it led, 50-19, at the break than Clarion scored in the entire game.
“We did some good things,” Capel said. “We have a lot of things we have to improve on. We’ll get to the tape. We’ll watch it. We’ll figure it out. We’ll gather together on Monday and start teaching again.”
For now, one of the most pleasing aspects of the exhibition was the ability to play five-on-five. In recent weeks, Pitt has had only nine healthy scholarship players for practice. John Hugley (knee) and William Jeffress (foot) did not play Saturday, and Capel hopes they’ll be ready for the opener Nov. 7 against Tennessee Martin. He said Hugley will be evaluated Tuesday when the team may have a better idea of when he will be available.
All nine players recorded at least four points, led by five of Pitt’s top six scorers who joined the Panthers as transfers either this year or in 2021.
Jamarius Burton led all scorers with 18 points, followed by Blake Hinson (17), Nelly Cummings (16), Greg Elliott (15) and 6-foot-11 Federiko Federiko (10 and a game-high 10 rebounds). Sophomore Nate Santos (12) was the only non-transfer to hit double-digit points.
The freshman Diaz Graham twins (7-foot Guillermo and 6-11 Jorge) each played more than 20 minutes and totaled 10 points.
Actually, Capel did not like what he considered a sub-par assist/field goals ratio in the first half, accompanied by six turnovers.
“Assists to field goals (eight/17) made were not what they’ve been in practice,” he said. “That’s been very opposite of how we’ve been in practice. The second half (13/21) was more indicative of how we’ve been.”
Plus, Pitt committed only two turnovers after halftime. For the game, Clarion committed 21 turnovers, including 15 Pitt steals.
When a team reaches triple digits, someone is making a lot of shots, and that was the case for the Panthers.
Pitt shot 59.4% from the field (38 of 64), including 12 of 28 (42.9%) from beyond the 3-point arc. The Panthers made their first nine free throws and ended up 15 of 21 (71.4%).
“We’ve shot the ball extremely well in practice,” Capel said. “The spacing has been good. We have to improve defensively, especially our interior defense. We have a lot of work to do, but they’ve really worked hard.”
Cummings contribuited four assists, and later offered a summary of what Pitt needs to do this season.
“As long as we get (shooters) the ball in the right spaces, they’re going to make shots,” he said. “That’s going to be our thing this year. We have to share the ball. We all have to contribute. We can’t just be a one-man team.”
Santos showed improvement over last season, hitting five of 10 shots (two of six 3-pointers)
“He’s in better shape. His body’s different,” Capel said of the 6-7, 210-pound forward. “Mentally, he’s in a better space.”
After missing most of his senior year of high school, he averaged fewer than 13 minutes per game last season as a freshman.
“He (was) thrust into a moment that maybe he (was) not ready for early,” Capel said. “He used it all as motivation. He’s been really good for us and we need him to be really good for us. He’s learning how to play stronger, learning how to use that body.”
Meanwhile, there were some overall mental lapses that players noticed and went right to work to fix.
“We’ve had some moments like everyone does,” he said. “I thought we had a couple of moments to start the second half. There was a little stretch there in the first half.
”The great thing about this team we’ve been able to get out of it pretty quickly. Hopefully, that’s something that continues.”