Pitt basketball sits 3-0 following its win over Gardner-Webb, 83-64, on Monday night at the Petersen Events Center.
The matchup with Gardner-Webb provided the Panthers an opportunity to face a zone defense for the first time that brought some fits and slowed them down at the end of the first half. Pitt also welcomed freshman wing Amsal Delalic to the rotation for the first time this season.
It was one final precursor before Pitt heads into a daunting stretch with six of its next seven games coming against high-major opponents starting with West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl on Friday.
Two-way Ish
At 15:13 of the first half, Leggett anticipated a pass inside the lane to a streaking Pharell Boyogueno as he stepped in front and took off down the floor. Upon approaching two defenders at the top of the key, he slipped into a spin move that opened up space for a smooth right-handed layup.
That play perfectly exemplified the type of impact Leggett can have as a two-way player for the Panthers this season. Aware and aggressive on the defensive end while driving to the hoop with a purpose on the offensive side.
Leggett paced the Panthers on Monday with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while adding three triples. He was also stingy on defense, racking up all six of his rebounds, two steals and limiting Gardner-Webb’s top offensive threat.
“What we’ve done all three games now is the best offensive guard, he’s guarded. The kid Selden came into this game averaging 19.5 points a game. He was 4-for-13. He takes pride in that. He takes pride in being a two-way guy,” head coach Jeff Capel said following the win.
“He was our best perimeter defender last yer. He has the mindset. He’s mentality and physically tough. He’s a fighter and he’s a little pit bull. When you have instincts like that, you are a pretty good defender,” Capel added.
Delalic Debut
After sustaining a hand injury during the summer, freshman wing Amsal Delalic’s collegiate debut was pushed back until the third game of the season against Gardner-Webb.
The 21-year-old freshman is expected to be an integral piece of this Pitt basketball team, but his debut was as standard as it could get. He scored three points, recorded two assists and picked up an offensive rebound.
“I thought he did some really good things. In the first half, he was able to get extended minutes. He made some really good passes when he first got in. He made a post pass to Cam and Cam was able to score,” Capel said.
Coming off an injury with limited time to work five-on-five in practice, it was noticeable that Delalic’s timing was off, including his first shot attempt that was blocked from beyond the arc. He missed a pair of free throws as well.
“In the second half, I thought he made some good passes, we’re just not used to him. The more experience he gets, we’ll get used to that. He made a three. I think he was a little bit rushed on his free throws because he’s a good shooter. I thought he did really well for not having played basketball continuously up and down for over a month,” Capel said.
With Delalic in the lineup, the 6-8 wing provides an additional scoring option for the Panthers.
“Just a different look,” Leggett on what Delalic brings to the team. “Somebody who can be on-ball, can be off-ball, just help decision making. I feel like his decisions he made tonight were good and he’s only going to build off it.”
Offensive Lulls, Zone Preparation
Pitt’s offense has been rather consistent in its first two games of the season and scoring at a high clip. That didn’t change in the opening 15 minutes against Gardner-Webb as the Panthers steadily racked up 38 points.
However, the offense cooled down once the Runnin’ Bulldogs shifted into its zone defense. It was the first time this season that the Panthers faced zone and it gave them some fits, slowing down the pace of the offense. Pitt went 0-for-9 from the floor to close the first half.
“It was great for us to get some work against the zone,” Capel said. “It was the first time we’ve seen it in live action this year. I thought it slowed us down in the last four minutes of the first half. We got some wide open looks and we missed them. I thought that slowed us down. In the second half, they stayed with it because we didn’t score for the rest of the half when they went to the zone.”
It won’t be the last time that Pitt will see the zone this year and it provides a learning opportunity for future encounters.
“It slowed us down. We didn’t play with the necessary pace that we need to play with against the zone, but it was good because it gave us some work against it. We have some film that we can talk about it and show. I thought the last 10 minutes when we starting playing with pace against the zone, we were shot ready and we made shots,” Capel said.
