Burton's leadership, Hugley's dominance, carry Pitt over Louisville

Pitt got its biggest win of the season Saturday at the Petersen Events Center.

Just ten days after losing to Louisville 75-72, the Panthers delivered their best win this season in beating the Cardinals in a rematch, 65-53, that showed dominance on both ends of the court. Pitt's defense stifled Louisville, holding the Cardinals to a 33.3 shooting percentage, the lowest by any of the Panthers' ACC opponents this season.

It was the kind of win Jeff Capel had been preaching to his players about all season, with the Panthers playing gritty defense combined with an offense that dominated in the paint all game. Pitt outscored Louisville 34-16 in the paint and outrebounded the Cardinals 41-32, putting together a win that made the most of Pitt's strengths without any premier offensive threats outside of John Hugley IV.

"It’s not going to necessarily be pretty, but this was beautiful," Capel said of the game. "This was beautiful today."

Three of Pitt's four ACC losses coming into Saturday had been by a single possession and come down to the last shot, with each of those losses featuring defensive lapses late in games that allowed the Panthers' opponents to get the game within reach when Pitt established leads. But once Femi Odukale made a layup that put Pitt up 46-36 with 10:30 left in the second half, the Panthers stepped up to never allow the Cardinals to the lead below 10 the rest of the game.

"It was growth today and it was something we have to build on," Capel said. "We said coming out of a timeout with eight minutes left when we were up 12, 'we've been in this situation before. Let's handle it well right now. Let's fire back, get a stop, keep scoring and execute.' We were able to do that. When they made a 3-pointer, we came down and scored right back. We stepped up and made free throws. We built on it today, now we have ot move forward and build on it when we get back together Monday."

Pitt started the game in zone defense, but quickly switched to man after Louisville shot over the zone to build an 8-3 lead. Once the man defense kicked in, the Panthers went on a 9-3 run and looked in control.

"We were better with understanding and executing our defensive game plan," Capel said. "We understood personnel better. We understood the strengths and weaknesses of each guy. We did not allow them to get in transition. Even in our turnovers we got back and made them play against our half court defense. The first time we played them they really hurt us in transition. We didn't play zone much this game, but when we did, it was better."

"That was a big emphasis defensively in the second half," Burton said about finishing strong. "Today, we stepped up to the plate, accepted the challenge by coach to show up on the defensive end in the second half, and really for a whole 40 minutes. We had to be more talkative. When we talk it helps our defense switch and communicate. We did that today."

Jamarius Burton, especially, showed up. He led Pitt with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists on the day, being a true leader who stepped in each time Louisville tried to rally with runs to get back into the game.

"That was Jamarius' best game here," Capel said. "He was strong in how he played and how he looked. We fed off that. That helped get the ball down to John inside to have him play through. He was determined in the huddle, with his teammates, and he looked like a leader for all 40 minutes. Really proud."

Burton was more than just a performer for Pitt though, as he was also a motivational leader for Pitt to keep the team together and get them to commit to the detailed style of defensive basketball Capel has wanted to play all season.

"He's done a really good job for us," Capel continued on Burton. "He's been good all year since he joined us. We knew once we got him back that it would take a while. You don't sit out five weeks, come back and then everything's good. It takes time to build your body back up, to get your legs back, things like that. He's a worker. He's a strong guy, and a man. We need him to be a man, because we have plenty of line guys."

There was a sense from Pitt that it should've won its previous contest against Louisville, and you could tell from listening to the Panthers after their Saturday win that they wanted to clean up the mistakes that cost them an ACC win at the KFC Yum! Center just ten days ago.

"If you look at last game, they got a lot of easy points," Burton said. "Whether it was transition points, and-1s, getting the ball through the zone and picking us apart. We mostly went man-to-man this game and that helped us see a big difference from game one to game two."

But Pitt did run into a familiar problem from its loss to Louisville in the first half Saturday, when John Hugley IV was called for two fouls and was limited to only eight minutes of game time going into halftime. In the previous loss to Louisville, Hugley only played 19 minutes as he was in foul trouble most of the game.

But the Panthers overcame not having their big man in the first half. Noah Collier came in to replace him, but the Panthers maintained dominance in the paint winning the rebound battle 19-15 and outscoring Louisville in the paint 19-10 all during the first half to build a 28-24 lead.

And this time when Hugley came back, he asserted his presence.

"It was great being able to play the whole game," Hugley said. "We came back for blood. They got us there last time but we felt like we should have gotten them. We were the hungrier team, we wanted it more. We followed coach's game plan, played hard and played Pitt basketball."

Hugley finished the game with 19 points and seven rebounds, proving to be a tough force in the paint where he scored ten of his points and earned five shooting fouls and made 7 of 9 free throws on the night. He matched up with Louisville's 6-foot-11, 245 lbs. center, Malik Williams, but Louisville tried its best to double-team Hugley when he got the ball. The 20-point performance from Burton, along with 10-point game from Femi Odukale, forced the Cardinals to honor Pitt's guards and give Hugley more chances against Williams underneath.

"It opens a lot because then the play me one-on-one," Hugley said on how Burton and Odukale's success impacted the game. "We all see what happens when I get my one-on-ones." 

Immediately after saying that, Hugley was asked what goes through his mind when he sees Louisville's starting forward Malik Williams try to guard him one-on-one. He kept his answer short and simple:

"Too little."

"Coach tells me to just go at everybody," Hugley continued. "Then once I do that, everybody is in a better position. Then we're all in the bonus, these guys drive and get contact at the rim to get more free throws. It's just about being physical at all times to be a real presence inside. Nobody wants to keep getting a chest to their body for the whole 40 minutes. I just wear guys down."

Hugley said he used to play defensive end in football back in Cleveland, and he looked strong enough Saturday to get more than Myles Garrett's one sack against the Steelers across two games this season. He sounded confident talking about it too, but Capel wanted to calm that down.

Capel muttered "Jesus Christ" under his breath when I asked him about Hugley saying Louisville's forwards were too small. At the end of the game, Williams and Hugley had words for each other during the handshake lines, but nothing more came of it. Pitt also got ten points and four blocks from Mouhammadu Gueye, who complemented Hugley well in the paint.

"I don't think they're too small," Capel said trying to correct Hugley's words. "John's a good player, Mo's a good player, and we have good players. The point is we have to sustain it for 40 minutes. We've done it for 28 minutes, 32 minutes, 37 minutes. We have to be able to do it for 40 minutes and we were able to do that."

Pitt certainly delivered on playing 40 minutes this game, bouncing back to a second half letdown that led to a 77-61 loss to Syracuse Tuesday. That, in addition to the loss to Louisville, made Pitt focused during the week to put on a better performance Saturday with intense practices.

"We were disappointed in our performance in our last game," Capel said. "We talked about it, we showed it to them, and we had some really good practices. The thing I really admire of these guys is they've shown up. They show up every day trying to get better. It's been hard on them with some of these heartbreaking losses. It's what makes me believe good things are on the horizon for us. It would be easy to jump ship, not show up, pout or feel sorry for yourself and our guys haven't done that."

The win was an important one for Pitt, and a sign that maybe this young team could learn from its mistakes and grow from them. There's plenty of ACC basketball ahead, and that gives plenty of chances to further establish this brand of basketball to be Pitt's true identity moving forward.

"It's a big confidence booster," Burton said. "When we do what the coaches tell us to do, we play together, this type of outcome is possible. Today we saw the results and we look forward to building on it."