On Saturday night, Pitt took down Stanford by a score of 83-68, coming back from an early nine-point deficit to beat the Cardinal.
The Panthers looked to Ishmael Leggett (21 points), Jaland Lowe (16 points), Guillermo Diaz Graham (12 points) and others for production, turning in an excellent all-around effort in the victory.
So how did the Panthers’ NET ranking change with the win?
Pitt actually dropped from No. 12 to No. 14 in the NET rankings. The Panthers covered the spread in the game comfortably, and out-performed expectations in the win over Stanford. The drop was likely due to other team’s earning wins that the NET system deems more valuable. For instance, Kentucky rose from No. 16 up to No. 11 with a 106-100 win over No. 4-ranked Florida. Mississippi State also jumped the Panthers, winning 85-50 in a dominating effort over previously 10-3 South Carolina.
The Panthers own a 12-2 overall record and are 3-0 in ACC play. Pitt is among the three teams that are undefeated in ACC play still, along with Clemson and Duke. Pitt owns a 2-2 record in Quad 1 games, a 1-0 record in Quad 2 games, a 4-0 record in Quad 3, and 5-0 in Quad 4. Pitt’s biggest opportunity of the regular season will come on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at Duke, who is currently ranked No. 3 in the NET.
Pitt may gain an important player back for the game against Duke. Damian Dunn has been out since the Wisconsin game with a thumb injury. Check out what Jeff Capel said about his status for the Duke game here.
Capel said that Dunn could not have played against Stanford. He warmed up, but did not play.
“He just wanted to warm up,” Capel said. “He’s been chomping at the bit and he’s been able to do some more stuff in practice, still has not done any live contact, offensive stuff, but he’s done stuff defensively, he’s done all of our skill-work stuff, so he’s getting back into the rhythm of it. He asked me yesterday, could he go through warmups. I thought that was a great sign. So, we’ll see.”
