Takeaways: Pitt vs. Kansas State – Nov. 25, 2019

Well, tonight’s game can hardly be classified as an easy win, but Pitt battled from start to finish, overcoming multiple big Kansas State leads–including a 10-point edge with four minutes left in the first half–and won a thriller by a score of 63-59.

We have all seen how great Pitt can be, as well as how exhausting they can be. Tonight’s game featured both of those character traits in spades. The Panthers collected 40 rebounds, made 86 percent of their free throws, and blocked six shots, altering several more. On the flip side though, the Panthers shot a putrid six percent of their three-point attempts, turned the ball over a horrendous 21 times, and collected just two assists.

It all started in the first half, as Pitt turned the ball over five times in the first 6 minutes, 41 seconds of the game. They also allowed Kansas State to enter the bonus really early on by committing seven fouls in the first nine minutes of the game. Xavier Johnson picked up two of those fouls in the first three minutes of the game, and sat the rest of the first half. Despite the sloppy play (and five made three-pointers for Kansas State), Pitt trailed just 30-28 at the break.

The second half played out much the same way that the first half did, as Pitt committed some terrible turnovers and fouls, but they got some much needed play from both Terrell Brown and Eric Hamilton in the interior, another great performance for the true freshman Justin Champagnie, and just enough of a second-half resurgence for Xavier Johnson to stave off a last-minute comeback attempt by the Wildcats after Pitt went up to a 57-51 lead.

Leading scorers for the Panthers were Ryan Murphy (13), Eric Hamilton (13), Johnson (12), and Champagnie (12). With the win, Pitt improves to 5-2 on the season and bolsters their potential playoff resume with wins over two likely NCAA Tournament participants in Kansas State (KenPom no. 64), and Florida State (KenPom no. 17).

Keys to the Game

In the pregame, I identified three keys to the game for Pitt against K-State. How did the Panthers do in those key areas?

• The “good” Xavier Johnson must show up. Johnson played just three minutes in the first half, picking up two personal fouls that sent him to the bench until the second half, and scoring zero points. The second half was a different story though, as Johnson played the entire second half before fouling out with 1.5 seconds left in the game.

  And he was pretty good in the second half, posting 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while scooping up six rebounds. Of course, there was the bad side of Johnson as well, as the point guard racked up eight turnovers and zero assists.

  He shot well and cleaned up the glass nicely tonight, but this offense is going to live and die by Johnson’s and McGowens’ ability to run the offense without turning the ball over. Once again in this early season, Johnson showed that he is not yet ready to handle that responsibility. He played well enough in other aspects to keep Pitt in the game, but without a flurry of offensive turnovers, Pitt might walk away from tonight’s game with a more impressive margin.

  Eventually, I think that Johnson will become that guy–after all, he didn’t turn the ball over once over his previous 50 minutes of basketball coming into tonight–but consistency is going to be an issue for him, for now at least. Verdict: Mixed bag.

• Pitt should see a big performance from Terrell Brown and/or Eric Hamilton. Coming into tonight’s game, Brown had struggled for three straight games, while Hamilton was coming off of a career-best game with Pitt, posting 12 points and eight rebounds against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Well, Hamilton continued to play at a high-level tonight, posting 13 points and 12 rebounds for his first career double-double with the Panthers.

  Meanwhile, Brown had a solid night of his own, scoring eight points, grabbing three rebounds, and blocking two shots and altering several more shots in the second half. Despite the fact that his numbers don’t pop off of the stat sheet, Brown came up huge in the second half, making four key free throws, grabbing an offensive board for a put back to give Pitt the lead late, and altering several Kansas State shots.

  Interestingly, this was the first time that I remember Brown and Hamilton playing together for an extended period this season–and they were very effective together. I think this is partly because they serve different roles for Pitt. Hamilton has more finesse offensively and is a better rebounder, while Brown provides a decent post-presence offensively, but whose main value comes from his ability to alter shots.

  On the floor together against K-State, they flourished. I expect to see them on the floor together a bit more moving forward. Tonight, though, they both helped get Pitt to the finish line. Verdict: Mission accomplished.

• Ryan Murphy needs to get it going. As I mentioned in the pre-game writeup, Murphy had posted just 19 points over his past three games, and was shooting 5-of-23 (just 2-of-15 from three-point range) over that stretch. Murphy still struggled from three, hitting just one three-pointer, but he also made four mid-range jumpers and finished the night with a team-high 13 points.

  Murphy added three rebounds and an assist, but his primary value came shooting the basketball. Especially early in the game, Murphy provided a steadying offensive presence. He made two tough mid-range jumpers to get Pitt back into the game after they fell down 9-0 early in the contest.

  He’s still cold from three, but Murphy showed signs of life with the ball in his hands tonight. And with McGowens and Johnson turning the ball over a combined 13 times and fouling out, it’s nice to have a guard that can be trusted to protect the basketball (one turnover in 40 minutes) and run the offense a bit when the other guards are off the floor. Verdict: On the right track.

Overall, Murphy played well enough, and combined with big performances from the big men and a strong enough second half from Johnson, Pitt held on for the white-knuckler. The team has to become more consistent moving forward as a whole, but they did enough tonight.

What to look for moving forward

Pitt plays against Northwestern on Wednesday night for the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament finale. The game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. and will once again be broadcast on FS1 with a radio broadcast on 93.7 The Fan.

Northwestern is 3-2 after their 78-51 win over Bradley tonight, though they have two bad losses so far–a 71-61 loss to Merrimack and a 67-56 loss to Radford. Neither Radford nor Merrimack are ranked in the top 100 of KenPom’s college basketball rankings.

Following the matchup with Northwestern, Pitt faces off at home against Rutgers on Tuesday, Dec. 3 as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge before a big-time ACC matchup against Louisville on Friday, Dec. 6.

That’s it for now folks. Enjoy the win tonight and get ready for what should be an exciting game on Wednesday night! We’ll have a pre-game writeup before the contest on Wednesday.