Pitt Hoops Game Preview: Pitt vs. Kansas State
The Pitt men’s basketball team tonight tips off against a formidable Kansas State team tonight at 6 p.m. as part of the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Fort Myers, Fla. The neutral-site game, which will be played at Suncoast Credit Union Arena, gives Pitt their third shot against a high-major program in this early season, having beaten Florida State and lost to West Virginia in the past few weeks.
Pitt (4-2) enters today’s matchup riding their first winning streak of the season, coming off of two home wins against Monmouth and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. This is just Pitt’s second game away from home of the season so far, having beaten Robert Morris in Moon Township, Pa. two weeks ago. As such, this game will actually be Pitt’s first true game away from home, as they didn’t have to leave Allegheny county to face Robert Morris.
The Kansas State Wildcats (4-0) enters Monday night’s contest as one of just 43 remaining perfect teams in the 2019-20 Division-I college basketball campaign. Kansas State has played one road game so far, a 60-56 win over UNLV on Nov. 9. Pitt will hope to dash their perfect record tonight for a chance to play in the Fort Myers Tip-Off finale on Wednesday.
Fast Facts
- This is just the second ever match-up between Pitt and Kansas State. Pitt won the first one by a score of 70-47.
- Notably, that game was also played on a neutral court. It was the third place game in the 2014 Maui Invitational.
- Pitt and Kansas State are both coming off of consecutive wins against Monmouth and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
- Kansas State actually trailed Monmouth by nine points at halftime (Pitt led by two), and were tied with Arkansas-Pine Bluff at halftime before pulling away for wins in the second half (Pitt led by 13 at the half).
- Kansas State enters the 2019-20 season coming off of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight run in 2017-18, followed by a first-round exit last season as the no. 4 seed Wildcats were upset by no. 13 UC-Irvine.
- Kansas State’s head coach is Bruce Weber, currently in his eighth season with the Wildcats. He has 154 wins with Kansas State, and 467 career wins as a Division-I head coach. Those 467 wins rank him no. 84 all-time among all D-I coaches.
- This season, he is extremely likely to pass former Pitt head coach Kevin Stallings on that list, who is currently ranked no. 82 all-time with 479 wins.
- Kansas State is currently ranked no. 59 in the KenPom rankings, while Pitt sits at no. 81 in the ranking following their loss to West Virginia.
- Pitt is by far the highest-ranked opponent for Kansas State thus far in the early going, as their second-best opponent was UNLV (no. 176). Meanwhile, Pitt has already faced two higher-ranked opponents, beating Florida State (no. 17) and losing to West Virginia (no. 46).
Kansas State Preview
Kansas State enters tonight’s game running a rather experienced unit, as they bring back six players from last year’s team including senior forward/guard and three-year starter Xavier Sneed; junior guards Carter Diarra, Mike McGuirl, and David Sloan; senior forward Makol Mawien; and junior forward Levi Stockard III.
The Wildcats’ six returning contributors are combining for more than 142 minutes per game in the early season, around 71 percent of time on the court. They have three freshmen making up the other 80 minutes, including true freshman starter Montavious Murphy, who is averaging nearly 30 minutes per game.
Kansas State’s successes start with Sneed, who is averaging 16.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game so far this season. Sneed, who declared for the NBA draft in April before deciding to return for his senior year, is one of the top players in the Big 12, and was named as a pre-season All-Big 12 honorable mention. This season so far, he’s taken his fair share of shots with 12.8 attempts per game, while attempting 6.8 shots from behind the arc each night.
In addition to Sneed, Diarra has also posted great numbers through four games, posting 12.5 points, 6.8 assists, and 4.5 rebounds so far. Diarra adds 1.8 steals per game defensively, and 3.0 offensive turnovers per game. For comparison, Xavier Johnson averages 5.2 assists and 3.2 turnovers per game. Diarra scored just eight and seven points respectively against Monmouth and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, however, after putting up 23 points on 21 field goal attempts against North Dakota State.
Despite some strong performances in the early going from returning players, Kansas State lost a lot of production from last season, as all of their top three scorers from a year ago graduated. To make matters potentially worse, Murphy injured his knee last week and did not play against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. It is unclear whether he will play tonight against the Panthers, but if he does, I might expect him to see reduced minutes.
Pitt Preview
Perhaps the biggest story coming into tonight’s game is the emergence of Justin Champagnie. The true freshman, who supplanted Au’Diese Toney as a starter in each of the past two games, put up a double-double in his first start against Monmouth, posting 12 points and 10 rebounds, before scoring 18 points on an incredibly efficient 8-of-12 shooting against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Another storyline to watch will be the potential re-emergence of Xavier Johnson in the Pitt offense. After struggling mightily for the first few games of the season, Johnson has exploded since the second half of the Monmouth game, posting 23 points, 13 assists, five rebounds, and four steals with exactly zero turnovers in his past three halves of basketball.
This is the Johnson that Pitt needs to show up most nights for them to compete in the ACC this year and fight for a possible NCAA Tournament berth–especially given the struggles of both Trey McGowens of Ryan Murphy of late.
While McGowens is shooting the ball well so far this year, he has turned the ball over a whopping 21 times so far this year, and still takes a few wild shot opportunities from ill-advised drives each game. Murphy, meanwhile, has slowed down after a very hot start to the season, scoring just 19 points on 5-of-23 shooting including a rough 2-of-15 from beyond the arc.
Fortunately, amidst McGowens’ and Murphy’s struggles, Johnson and Champagnie have stepped up. The Panthers will be dangerous on the nights where all four of them are clicking.
Aside from those four, the rest of the roster’s role players, including Toney, Terrell Brown, and Eric Hamilton have shown flashes but inconsistency has been the name of the game so far. Toney, who is shooting just .258 from the floor through six games has posted two double-digit scoring nights on .500 or better shooting, and three games with a .250 shooting percentage or below. It has been feast or famine for him in the early going, though he still adds nice defensive contributions on a nightly basis.
Brown started the year very strong, before taking a turn for the worse defensively, as he has been less effective at altering shots and cleaning up rebounds, and less sure-handed with the ball in his hands over the past few games. As a result, he has seen a significant reduction in his minutes. Hamilton, meanwhile, saw his minutes dwindle into the single digits before posting a monster game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff with 12 points and eight rebounds in just 16 minutes (foul trouble kept him from playing more).
The Panthers have seen an expanding rotation over the past couple of games, as Abdoul Karim Coulibaly has finally started to see meaningful minutes on the court, logging 26 minutes between the Monmouth and Arkansas-Pine Bluff games. He has shown a nice offensive touch during his time on the floor, but needs work defensively. Of course, as a true freshman going against more experienced bigs, that is surely to be expected.
The Panthers have also played sophomore walk-on Onyebuchi Ezeakudo in each of the past four games as a reserve guard behind Johnson and McGowens. He’s averaging around just four minutes per game, but given how many minutes Johnson and McGowens can expect to play each night anyway, having a guy like Ezeakudo–who has played excellent defensive basketball, accumulating three steals and two rebounds in just 15 minutes–who can step in and give one or both of them a short breather can be a real asset for this team.
Gerald Drumgoole, who started the season as a starter, has missed each of the past two games with an ankle injury. His status for tonight is unkown as of this moment.
Game Preview
Tonight’s matchup with Kansas State is going to be a tough one for the Panthers. So what are the keys to the game?
The “good” Xavier Johnson must show up.
As it has done since he stepped on the court for the first time last season, Pitt thrives when Johnson thrives. The Panthers have outscored their opponents by a combined 36 points over the past three halves, not-so-coincidentally aligned with around 50 minutes of turnover-free basketball for the Panthers’ sophomore point guard. Johnson, who has had significant turnover problems in Pitt’s losses so far this season, needs to play smart basketball again tonight against one of Pitt’s toughest matchups of the 2019-20 season so far.
Pitt should see a big performance from Terrell Brown and/or Eric Hamilton.
An important part of the success that Pitt had in the win against Florida State? A big performance from Terrell Brown, who posted 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting and added three rebounds. Brown also almost single-handedly kept Pitt in the game against Nicholls State, scoring eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, adding five blocks (and altering a few more shots).
A good Brown is a great thing for Pitt. But if his struggles continue, Pitt will hope for another strong performance from Hamilton. Despite the fact that Kansas State will be a stout test for Pitt, this will be one of Pitt’s few games where they have the height advantage, as Brown’s 6-foot-10 stature is taller than any of the Wildcat big men. A good performance in the interior would go a long way toward Pitt taking one away from Kansas State tonight.
Ryan Murphy needs to get it going.
Murphy can be Pitt’s best outside shooter. He showed that in spades early in the season, especially against Nicholls State where he hit four three-pointers en route to a 28 point night. He’s put up just 29 total points in the four games since.
However, a staple of Bruce Weber’s K-State teams is a stout defense. This season, the Wildcats are holding opponents to just 53.8 points per game on a .273 field goal percentage from three-point land. If Murphy can have a big game and draw increased attention from the Wildcats, that might open up other shot opportunities for some of the other Panthers shooters. If Murphy struggles and Pitt once again lacks a real three-point threat, it could get ugly for Pitt against a tough defensive team.
That’s it for our game preview today. The game will be televised on FS1 at 6 p.m., with a radio broadcast on 93.7 The Fan. Check back in with Dream Backfield after the game for some post-game analysis of tonight’s game!
