PITTSBURGH — I stood down on the court at halftime and looked around at a crowd of 10,500 people, passionately cheering for a crying Sam Clancy as his jersey was retired by Pitt.
Pitt legends lined the floor as the current team geared up for the second half against Clemson. Many former stars, including DeJuan Blair, Billy Knight, and even Brandin Knight — a current D1 assistant coach at Rutgers — made the trip in for the game.
Clancy raved about his experience playing here and thanked those who helped him along his journey. After the ceremony, he expressed his pride for the Pitt basketball program, past and present.
“I love the way Coach Capel’s got it going right now,” he said.
The culture feels as strong as its ever been in Capel’s tenure. I wrote this in the summer after TBT, and I’d still stand by this, despite the team’s recent skid and despite Saturday’s result.
In the first half against Clemson, Pitt won the rebounding battle 18-14. Ten of Pitt’s 18 boards in the half came offensively. That is excellent — and that is a clear area of improvement from the other recent losses. The Panthers took care of the ball, too, only turning it over four times in the half. Cam Corhen was 5 for 5 from the field. Jorge Diaz Graham and Papa Amadou Kante both played early minutes. Jeff Capel was mixing around different lineups, and the offensive attack seemed to be doing alright. But the Tigers were just hot. Clemson converted on its open looks, and made some difficult shots that were well-contested by Pitt. Sometimes good defense loses to better offense.
After the halftime festivities, all eyes turned to the second half.
Surely, the Tigers would cool off from three, right?
They did. Clemson made just two of its eight looks from deep in the latter half. While Pitt’s strong defense limited Clemson and the Panthers earned the game’s momentum back, Pitt just couldn’t break through and build a lead. At the under-eight timeout, the game was tied and the stadium was rocking. However, coming out of the break, Clemson was the team that took the lead. The Tigers quickly built a four-point advantage, forcing Pitt to play catch up once again.
I don’t want this to get lost in this story, either: Clemson is a great team. I think they’re the second-best team in the league, and they’ve had Pitt’s number for years, too. This wasn’t going to be an easy win by any means, and the Tigers deserve credit for their effort in the game and for their talent on the roster. They have several big-time players, who, at different times, made big-time plays.
But I think Pitt is a good team, too. I still think Pitt can be a top-three or top-four team in this league. North Carolina, Wake Forest, and Louisville are going to be in the running for those spots now, too. But the Panthers have the talent to compete with these teams in my eyes.
So what’s missing?
I think that Pitt’s lack of a volume three-point shooter has been creating difficulties for the offense. I’m talking about a true catch-and-shoot threat.
Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett are both great guards. I know people have criticized the two, especially Lowe as of late, for their turnovers. But I think their turnovers, as well as their shot selection, have been affected by the team not having true, consistent threats to rise up from 23 feet away.
Zack Austin has improved tremendously on his shooting, and that has been a positive development for Pitt. But his volume is not there. Coming into the game against Clemson, Austin ranked 35th in the ACC in three pointers attempted per game. He went just 2 for 10 against Clemson in the loss today. I am not going to sit here and say that Austin is a bad shooter because of one game. He’s not. Again, he’s been better this year compared to last year. He set a goal this offseason to shoot 40%, and he’s done that so far.
But I don’t think opposing teams are worried about him making four or five three pointers per game night in and night out. He has made more than two threes in a game just twice this year. Again, this is not to pile onto Austin here at all. But he has not shown us that he can be a player that is going to consistently shoot three pointers well at a high volume while at Pitt.
I don’t think Lowe (12th in the ACC in threes attempted per game) and Leggett (29th in the same category) scare teams from outside, either. Both players rank higher than Austin in that category, but three-point shooting is not their main focus. Lowe is best when he is creating and getting downhill, in my opinion. His court vision, his passing, and his quickness are, in my eyes, three of his best strengths. Pitt sends ball screens up to him nearly every possession to get him moving towards the basket and allow him to create. I like the strategy behind this. But if teams force him to shoot a runner or clog up the lane and make him retreat back outside, Lowe and the rest of the team do not pose much of a threat, especially in late-shot-clock situations.
I think Lowe can shoot the ball, too. Last year, he hit 35% of his threes. But without a true catch-and-shoot threat alongside him, he has been forced to shoot tougher shots. We saw it against Clemson. Lowe made just one of his five threes. Two of those attempts, in the biggest moments of overtime, came late in the shot clock with his momentum heading backwards as he loaded up for the shot. I would categorize these as bad looks. Again, this is not a knock on Lowe. I think Lowe is the most talented point guard in the ACC. But I think he has suffered from the team not having a volume shooter on the outside to truly complement his game.
Lowe is leading the team in three pointers attempted this year by a very wide margin. He has now attempted 93 threes on the year, and has only made 26 (28%). That percentage is seven points lower than his three-point shooting percentage last year.
Austin is now second on the team in three pointers attempted with 77, and Leggett is third with 74. Leggett, for one, had a great game shooting the ball on Saturday. He was four for seven from three. That’s a great sign to me. His catch-and-shoot numbers are actually pretty strong, too. Per Synergy, Leggett is a 38% three-point shooter on catch-and-shoot attempts. Again, this is not a knock on Leggett — but I do not think he is a volume three-point shooter.
Leggett has made more than three three pointers in a game just twice this season, against Louisville and now against Clemson. Recently, he’s been good from deep. But if he is going to be the team’s three-point threat, 4.4 three-point attempts per game isn’t exactly scaring many people in the league just yet.
These guys exist, too. Let’s look around the league for reference.
Duke’s Kon Knueppel is the three-point threat in Durham. While his percentage has been below 40 for the season, he has attempted 100+ threes already this year, and is already being talked about as a potential first-round draft pick, in large part because of his shooting ability. Guard Tyrese Proctor has attempted 95 threes, too, and he’s at 41% on the year.
Clemson is the best three-point shooting team in the league by percentage. Chase Hunter came into the game with 100+ attempts from deep, shooting it at a remarkable 45% clip. Against Pitt, he hit five of his nine attempts from three-point range, before hitting the dagger — a late three pointer over Lowe’s arm.
Louisville has Reyne Smith, who entered the day as the conference’s leader in three pointers made (64) and three pointers attempted per game (9.1). We saw what he could do just last week here at the Pete. Even though everyone in the league knows he is the scariest shooter in the league, it’s hard to stop him. Chucky Hepburn and Co. can make plays around him, and the Cardinals attack the boards. Then, there’s Smith, who will knock down the biggest of shots for your team from deep.
I believe that this Pitt team can make the NCAA Tournament with the personnel that is on the roster. Despite four-straight losses, the team had a strong non-conference slate, earning a Q1 win on the road (Ohio State), dominating its rival West Virginia, and beating the hell out of inferior opponents. However, it isn’t going to come easy after this losing streak. Pitt, now firmly on the bubble in many bracketologists’ eyes, has work to do to show that it can overcome what I believe is holding the team back, which is the lack of a volume three-point shooter.
Aside from the three players I focused on — the three that are leading the team in three-point attempts, Pitt has some other options on the roster. Beebah Cummings, Damian Dunn, and Amsal Delalic are all shooting over 40% from deep. So is Jorge Diaz Graham, who has been a pleasant surprise this year, shooting a whopping 62% from downtown. Aside from Diaz Graham in a pair of recent games, none of those guys — whether it is because of the defensive attention shown towards them, the coaching strategy by Pitt, or just the style of player that they truly are — have shown that they can a large volume of three-point attempts within Pitt’s system.
wpDiscuz