GREENSBORO, N.C. — The No. 5 Pitt Panthers held a distinct height advantage over the No. 13 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the second round of the 2023 ACC Tournament. Federiko Federiko took full advantage.
The sophomore center from Helsinki, Finland, scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Panthers’ 89-81 win over Georgia Tech, recording the second-highest point total of his Pitt career. Federiko’s career-high point total (22) came on Dec. 17 against North Florida.
Despite dealing with foul trouble – taking two into the halftime break, picking up a third at the 12:55 mark of the second half, and a fourth 30 seconds after checking in at 10:02 – Federiko’s strong first 20 minutes powered the Panthers to a 13-point halftime lead as the Panthers top offensive weapon.
He crushed the Yellow Jackets in the paint and benefitted from both pick-and-rolls and putbacks to power the Panthers. Federiko shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the field in 26 minutes of play and made 5-of-6 free throws, the most on the team.
Jamarius Burton registered a team-high 21 points as the Panthers shot 56% from the floor and 20-of-25 from the free-throw line. Pitt moves on to face No. 4 Duke Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
