Pitt Take 5: Everybody gets in the act to help winning streak reach 3 in a row
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The assignment for Saturday while Pitt enjoys a weekend off is to identify the most impressive stat on the Panthers’ resume.
But let’s not make it too easy. The 9-3 record in the ACC and 16 overall victories with eight regular-season games remaining give fans a chance to gloat. But that’s low-hanging fruit. Let’s dig deeper.
Is it the 6-2 road record? No ACC team has more victories on a foreign court.
How about six victories in eight games decided by three points or fewer? Pitt has successfully defended the opponent’s last gasp in four of those six.
Both stats are impressive and speak to Pitt’s ability to stay in the moment, make big plays when they matter most and ignore the unfriendly crowd.
Yet there’s another fact that is almost impossible to believe.
Five players have been the leading scorer and rebounder in the past six games.
The top scorers are Blake Hinson (twice), Nike Sibande, Greg Elliott, Jamarius Burton and Nelly Cummings. The rebounders are Federiko Federiko (twice), Guillermo Diaz Graham, Hinson, Burton and Sibande.
Here’s some other things to ponder about the Panthers:
1. Where does Pitt rank?
Pitt received only nine voting points in the current Associated Press Top 25 poll. Maybe that number will grow when the next poll is released Monday.
Even after the victory at North Carolina stretched the winning streak to three, Pitt’s NCAA Net ranking improved only from No. 61 to No. 59. Ranked ahead of Pitt are No. 49 Northwestern (a 87-58 loser to the Panthers), No. 43 North Carolina (lost twice to Pitt) and No. 40 Miami (with a 4-4 record against Quad 1 opponents while Pitt is 4-2).
At the moment, Pitt is on the NCAA Tournament bubble. One of the most popular projections finds Pitt, a No. 11 seed, in Dayton for the First Four against No. 11 Penn State.
To ensure its first berth in seven years, Pitt needs to win at least six of the next nine games, including one victory in the ACC Tournament. Sounds doable.
A total of 22 victories that includes defeating No. 6 Virginia, No. 23 Miami, N.C. State and North Carolina (twice) will be difficult for the committee to ignore.
2. Walk-on, no longer
Franklin Regional graduate Aidan Fisch, a former manager and walk-on, was recently put on scholarship. When the 6-foot-5 senior forward got the good news, he called his parents, and the three of them happily reflected on his Pitt journey. Fisch was a team manager during the 2019-20 season, giving him great respect for the position.
“As a manager, you’re doing the grit and grind of everything for the team,” Fisch said during an appearance on the “Jeff Capel Show” on 93.7 FM. “You’re wiping off sweat. You’re rebounding for players. You’re parking cars. I don’t take that for granted now that I’m in a position of better opportunities as a scholarship player. I definitely appreciate everything that’s happened.”
On top of basketball, Fisch is in pre-med, studies at least two hours a day and works as a volunteer at Magee Women’s Hospital and a South Side research lab.
3. Every contribution counts
Federiko did a little of everything in the North Carolina game. He took only five shots, but he made four while grabbing four rebounds, blocking three shots and keeping All-ACC center Armando Bacot from taking over the paint.
“Bacot’s one of the best players in the country, certainly one of the best big guys,” Capel said. “I thought he did an outstanding job of pushing him off the block, contesting his shots.”
4. Keep shooting
Pitt is averaging 12.4 points per game more than last season (73.9-61.5), and a big part of that is Capel giving his players freedom to miss once in a while.
“As long as we take good shots, I’m good with it,” he said. “If you miss, that’s fine. (I) don’t want you to miss a lot, but if you do, just keep shooting. It eventually will turn.
“I want them to have that mindset. I want them to have that freedom. I don’t want them playing afraid, scared, looking over their shoulder. I just want them to play.”
5. How long is 0.6 of a second?
A note about the last play of the North Carolina game:
There was a Twitter question Thursday that Nike Sibande might have contacted Caleb Love with his hand. Perhaps a shooting foul should have been called.
Although I respect the opinion and Sibande’s hand does appear close to Love’s hands, I disagree.
Before the ball was inbounded, Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis called timeout with 0.6 left on the clock. That’s barely more than a half-second. It takes a person longer to blink.
The slow-motion video shows Love catching the basketball — when the clock is supposed to start — and jumping in the air while Sibande’s hand is not close. Even if Sibande eventually struck Love, the contact could not have happened in that 0.6 time frame. It had to occur while the clock read 0:00.
“I don’t think he got the shot off (in time),” Capel said on his radio show.
Burton hit the decisive free throws with 3.6 seconds left. Love would have had a better chance if Davis had just let the action continue.
Did Pitt get away with a foul on the last shot of the game? Watch pic.twitter.com/sDyyYmUWQO
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) February 2, 2023