There is no such thing as a must-win game in early January, but Saturday’s game against Louisville comes close.

If Pitt (9-5, 0-3) loses to Louisville on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center and finds itself 0-4 in the conference for the first time since the last of the Kevin Stallings’ years (0-18 in 2018), there will be time to salvage the season. Two months’ worth of games, actually.

But there are troublesome elements to Pitt’s game that need to be addressed, and perhaps a bit of a breather against the Cardinals would help the Panthers, who defeated Louisville twice last season by 21- and 34-point margins. The 75-54 decision was Pitt’s only victory at the Yum! Center in 11 tries.

Louisville (5-8, 0-2) is struggling this season after its most recent defeats to Kentucky, 95-76, and Virginia, 77-53. Those games followed losses to lesser opponents Chattanooga, DePaul and Arkansas State.

More bad news for coach Kenny Payne surfaced Thursday when the school announced 7-foot-1 freshman Dennis Evans, a top-five center in the 2023 class, is no longer medically cleared to play basketball. Evans hasn’t played since Nov. 29 after injuring his shoulder.

When Evans signed in April, Payne said, “It’s going to be a joy to watch him grow and become one of the best players in college basketball.”

Coach Jeff Capel said Louisville is a talented team “that for whatever reason has not been able to put it together.”

“I hope they put it together next week, not on Saturday,” he said Thursday on his radio show on KDKA-FM. “But we have to make them not put it together.”

1. Glass matters matter

Pitt has been on the low end of the rebound battle in each of its three ACC games — Clemson (40-33), Syracuse (40-39) and North Carolina (51-41). That’s not good news because Jeff Capel stresses rebounding — gang rebounding, to be precise, because he considers it a five-man endeavor.

Ishmael Leggett, a 6-foot-3 guard, is the team’s leading rebounder with a 6.2 average. He led the Panthers with eight against North Carolina, even though he played with an injured shoulder.

Louisville’s top rebounders, Tre White and Mike James, are also guards who average six. White (groin) was one of four injured Cardinals who didn’t play Tuesday against Virginia.

2. Capel: Don’t question our hustle

Capel believes Pitt is playing hard enough and with enough hustle to win games. It’s just those pesky basics of the game: shooting and rebounding.

In fact, Capel quickly shot down a reporter who questioned Pitt’s hustle in the areas of rebounding and second-chance points. Pitt recorded only one second-chance point against North Carolina.

“It’s not hustle. We hustled,” Capel said. “So don’t put that out there.”

Capel suggested the loss had more to do with the superiority of the Tar Heels, who are ranked No. 8 in the nation.

“Look, they’re a really good team. They’re big. They’re athletic. They’re old. They crash the glass. We tried to crash. We didn’t get them. But it had nothing to do with hustle.

“I thought we were tough. I thought we played hard. I thought we competed. The game was very physical. They knocked us off the path at times. We have to be able to fight through it. We have to be able to adjust to how the game is officiated.”

3. Keep the ball moving

Pitt can counteract some of its deficiencies in experience and paint presence by simply making shots.

Guillermo Diaz Graham said he believed the team played well against North Carolina.

“We just weren’t able to make shots,” he said.

Sounds simple enough, and Capel said on his radio show that he knows what’s needed.

“We have to do a better job of moving the basketball … player movement, ball movement,” he said. “That’s when we’re at our best. We became very stagnant offensively (against North Carolina), and it turned into a little bit of trying to go one-on-one, and we’re not built to do that. We have to get back to the ball having energy and when it does, we’ll make shots.”

The stat that may go unnoticed by fans is the assist-to-basket ratio. Coaches love it because it speaks to unselfishness and finding the best shot.

When Pitt defeated Canisius last month, the ratio was 16/31. More than half of the baskets had an assist attached. In the North Carolina game, it was 6/21.

4. Defense, no problem

Capel said the team defended “incredibly well” in the past three games.

• Purdue Fort Wayne scored only 48 points against Pitt after collecting 89 and 86 in the two previous games. After the 61-48 loss at the Pete, the Mastodons improved their record to 13-2 by defeating Northern Kentucky, 73-60, and Detroit Mercy, 91-56.

• In the past three games, Purdue Fort Wayne, Syracuse and North Carolina are shooting a collective 39.7% against Pitt.

• North Carolina carried an 86.3 average into the game and managed only 70 points.

5. Let’s hear it, Blake

Blake Hinson has one of the biggest personalities on the team. He looks like he’s having fun playing basketball.

During his three-game shooting slump, he’s been too quiet, said Capel, who stepped in to do something about it.

“I had a long talk with Blake,” the coach said on his radio show.

“One of the things he gives us all the time is positive energy. Blake is a guy who’s loud. You always hear him when he’s around. He felt like in the North Carolina game, and it’s extension of Syracuse, he’s letting us down and because of that, he was extremely quiet during the North Carolina game, especially in the second half and huddles. He can’t be that way.

“He has to be that same positive, high-energy guy all the time and I really believe if he does that, he’ll make shots.”

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