Odukale catches fire for 28 points in Pitt's 64-55 win over Jacksonville

Femi Odukale was a man on a mission Tuesday at the Petersen Events Center.

His 28 points, including his hitting 5 of 7 three-pointers were the catalyst to Pitt's 64-55 win over Jacksonville. The win lifted the Panthers to 5-7 on the season just before they start their bulk of ACC games against Notre Dame on Tuesday, Dec. 28 at the Petersen Events Center.

This Tuesday for Odukale was the important game for him to bounce back from his abysmal shooting performance when he only hit 1 of 12 field goals against St. John's in Pitt's 59-57 win over the Red Storm. Even though the Panthers won, the game left a bad taste in the mouth of the sophomore from Brooklyn, N.Y. and made him take a hard look at himself.

“Before the game started," Odukale said after the game. "I watched the St. John's game three times, because that was like the homecourt advantage. I had a bad game. And I hate having the feeling of playing bad in front of anybody. This game I made sure before I go home, I'll play with energy and show people what I can really do.”

Odukale's been a battler for Pitt since he arrived last season. He's never been afraid to get physical in his drives to the basket but also works hard to still play within the team scheme and work within the offense. His grit to improve has impressed even Jeff Capel in recent weeks.

"Femi knows that we have a lot of confidence in him," Capel said. "And sometimes you just don't make shots. And that happens. I think you know good players have convenient amnesia, you forget about it, and you don't let it affect you and I'm glad he didn't allow it to affect them today.”

In addition to the energy Odukale brought, his shooting the lights out was a huge lift for the Panthers, especially early in the game. Pitt was struggling to penetrate Jacksonville's zone defense that packed the paint, but Odukale led the Panthers' shooting that hit 6 of 17 first half three-pointers. That half alone was the third-most three pointers made and taken by the Panthers in a game all season.

Pitt finished hitting 9 of 27 three-pointers in the game. That's the second-most made shots beyond the arc from the team this season and Odukale was a big part of it, accounting for more than half of those made shots.

That showing joined a continued surge from Pitt's two transfer heroes of the win over St. John's in Jamarius Burton and Mouhammadou Gueye. Burton finished with 12 points and six rebounds, but Gueye was an all-around threat with 15 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four blocks. 

“Yeah, just embracing the physicality, playing with more of a motor," Gueye said about there being a change in his play recently. "I think that's the biggest thing. I don't think it's more so my offense has changed. I think it's just personally my energy. I've been playing with high energy feeding off the energy of these guys. They’re trusting me with the ball and I trust in my work. I work on this stuff every single day. So, it's just going out there and doing it."

Plenty of Pitt's games this season have been ugly performances with terrible shooting, low efficiency on offense and a slim margin of victory with Pitt's combined margin of victory over the previous four wins being just 17 points. The shooting was still an issue as the Panthers only shot 37.7 from the floor, but a major aspect that helped the offense was its lack of turnovers.

Pitt's six turnovers to Jacksonville was the lowest on the season, and the first time since the Panthers' season opening loss to The Citadel that the Panthers had fewer turnovers in a game than their opponent as Jacksonville had twelve on the game.

"We were stronger with the basketball," Capel said when asked about the improvement on turnovers. "They didn't really pressure. They don't pick you up full-court or in passing lanes. So, we were able to make plays, make passes and do that without digress. I was a little bit concerned because and watching them on tape, they've been very aggressive in ball screens. And I think their game plan was to make a shoot, they went under, they backed up. I thought that helped us out a little bit and then when they started to do it and we had counters to it. Some things that we worked on getting rid of the basketball quickly. Meeting passes, being strong, making the easy pass, the pass just right in front of you and making those plays."

The Panthers also only slightly outrebounded Jacksonville 37-35, and did lose the paint battle 18-10. But it's a good sign for Capel's Panthers that they were able to win while their primary method of scoring was taken away for so long by a defense that packed the paint.

It was also a good sign that while up 38-35 with 13:00 left in the game that the Panthers were able to crack open Jacksonville's defense with solid offense that opened up the paint. After Odukale hit a two-point jumper, twice Pitt penetrated the paint to force Jacksonville to collapse on whoever had the ball. First it was Odukale, then it was John Hugley IV, but both quickly reacted and found Gueye charging to the basket who threw both opportunities down for dunks.

It energized the Pitt bench and the sparse crowd in attendance on a Tuesday afternoon.

"I want to say it was more so my reaction to the dunks because these guys know I'm a quiet guy," Gueye said when asked if his dunks fired up Pitt. "So I feel like when they see me react after plays, blocks and dunks, give a little screaming flex, that energizes the team and we needed that in the second half to really get going so I was just trying to make plays and get our team's energy up."

Those dunks and Odukale's jumper kickstarted a 14-0 run for Pitt that got the lead to 50-35 with 8:03 to play. From there, it was just about finishing strong. The Panthers maintained that 15-point lead until Capel sent his reserves onto the court in the final minutes when Jacksonville made a 9-2 run. But the work Pitt had put in earlier made the run insignificant and allowed Pitt to rest easy with its largest margin of victory on the season.

Capel has talked all season about winning ugly and how it will be important for Pitt to know how to do that in the tightest of games, especially in the ACC. He addressed that notion after the game, noting how Pitt has to make sure it improves its defense to the point the offense's success feeds off it.

“They have to because that's the only way," Capel said when asked if his team has embraced his message that they have to win ugly. "There's nothing that's pretty about us. We had some pretty plays today. And winning is pretty like the last couple of plays against St. John's were beautiful. And they were defensive things, they were toughness things. This is who we are. This is who we are. And so, I think they've accepted that there's no other choice."