Pitt forward Guillermo Diaz Graham finished Wednesday night’s game with 0 points, six rebounds, and five turnovers.
Diaz Graham went 0-4 from three-point range in the lopsided win for the Panthers. It’s been no secret that he has struggled to shoot the ball this season, and Pitt head coach Jeff Capel addressed those struggles after the game.
“Look, he’s struggling right now,” Capel said. “He’s struggling shooting the basketball.He’s doing some other things well, but he’s struggling shooting the basketball. As long as he’s taking good shots, I’m ok with it. But I know that he’s struggling. I know what it’s like to be him, and I feel for him, but I believe in him, his teammates believe in him. Even though he struggled shooting the basketball, he had six rebounds today. He had some key defensive possessions against Virginia Tech. He hit a huge three against Virginia Tech, and he hit two free throws when we were down two with under two minutes left. So, he’s done some really good things for us this year.”
Diaz Graham played the five spot last season, backing up Federiko Federiko and coming off the bench in 26 of Pitt’s 33 games. However, with Federiko gone to Texas Tech and the Panthers adding Cam Corhen, Capel has slotted Diaz Graham into the four spot, and he has started all 11 games there for the Panthers. On Wednesday night, Capel described what is different about Diaz Graham’s shots at his new position, as opposed to his old one.
“The shots are different because he’s not as still as he is when he was at the five,” he said. “So, what we’ve really tried to work with him on and show him the past couple of days leading to this game, is his shot preparation, that’s one of the biggest things. He has to be able to get his feet set quicker and getting power into his shot where he’s stepping into it. When you have more time, you have more time to do that. Teams are also playing him different because of how he shot the basketball last year especially, when he was a 40% three-point shooter. But he’s struggling.”
In 18 minutes per game last year, Diaz Graham shot 40.5% from three-point range. That was a more-than 15% increase from his freshman season shooting numbers. However, this year, he has taken a major step backwards in terms of shooting percentage. Diaz Graham is shooting 4.2 three pointers per game, and is shooting just 19.6% from deep — the lowest mark of his career at Pitt.
In his first four games of the season, Diaz Graham made six out of 17 attempts from three-point range (35%). Since then, he has made just three out of 29 attempts from beyond the arch (10%). For a player who has attempted the second-most three pointers on the team this year, the Panthers are going to continue to look to Diaz Graham to shoot his way out of his slump this year.
“One of the biggest things at times as a player is that you have to get outside of your own head and you have to block the noise,” Capel continued. “Guillermo and Jorge, but we’re talking about Guillermo right now. Guillermo has been as important as any guy in this program the last three years. Our program changed when he got here. He was a part of a group, but he was a big part of it. He and his brother’s energy and what they bring to our program every day. There’s no one on our team that is beloved more than Guillermo. The thing that I appreciate is that I know that he’s struggling, but I see him show up every day with an unbelievable attitude, I see him work before practice, I see him work after practice, and it’s just a matter of time before the flood gates are open and he starts shooting the basketball like we know he’s capable of shooting. But one of the biggest things for him right now — I’ve talked to him about this, I’ll talk to him more because I know this from experience, it happened to me really my senior year — he’s got to block the noise out, because I’m sure it’s a lot of noise.”
To close out his press conference, Capel offered his support for Diaz Graham once more, and motivated Pitt fans to rally around Diaz Graham while he is struggling.
“My big thing is that if you’re a Pitt fan, then you should cheer for the kid. You shouldn’t judge him, you shouldn’t be negative. It’s easy to pile on someone when they’re down, but my thing is that if you’re a fan of our program, you’re a fan of Pitt basketball, then you’re a fan of all of Pitt basketball. Not just when someone’s doing well. We need everyone to rally around him, because we need him to be at our best.”
