Where Will Barry Dunning Jr. Fit In at Pitt? He Answers

One of Pitt’s incoming transfers, Barry Dunning Jr., is already on campus at Pitt.

The South Alabama product entered the transfer portal, eventually visited the Panthers, committed shortly after, and after a few weeks, went right back to Oakland to move in. Since then, he’s been working on his game with the Panthers’ staff, namely Gilbert Brown, the former Panther standout.

According to Synergy, most of Dunning’s field-goal attempts came from jumpers. From there, he mostly took catch-and-shoot shots. He shot 27% on guarded catch-and-shoot chances, and 38% on unguarded catch-and-shoot attempts. He also attempted 64 jumpers off the dribble, making 19 of those (30%). Dunning also spent lots of time playing at and above the rim, attempting 128 layups and 30 dunks last season. With an all-around shot chart, I asked Dunning, where are you most comfortable on the court?

“Offensively, it shows, especially at my old school, I just get to my spots,” Dunning said on Thursday. “I’m a guy that can pull a jumper, catch-and-shoot threes, get to the bucket, if someone cuts me off, getting to the post, take my time. I’m a willing passer, too, as well. I love to pass. Setting up my teammates, getting off them with cuts. Pass, cut, screen for them too. Just keeping the game simple. I feel like learning that from my old school pops. Just keep the game simple. Use the backboard. The backboard is open 24/7, that’s how you get your money. My game is just simple. Working with Gilbert Brown, expanding my game a little bit. Working on some ball handling, a lot of ball handling, actually. I’ve got my forearms hurting before I came in here with you guys. Just keeping everything simple and expanding. Keeping simple counters. My whole game, just keeping it simple. Catch and shoot, more pull-up jumpers, and get to the rim, three dribbles or less.”

Dunning is also confident that he will bring leadership to the locker room, coming to Pittsburgh with three seasons of DI experience — in three different conferences — under his belt.

“Me showing up every day being a leader, not just verbally, but with my actions,” he said. “With my discipline and my work, and just let it trickle down to everybody else. Texting my teammates too, watching them, hearing things about them, all of those guys coming in, they work hard too, as well. They show everything by their actions. When the season comes around, you’ll see, we’ve got some older guys on the team, and we’re going to come in, build that team bond, and when we get out on the court to play, you’re going to see that team chemistry, how everything works together. We’re going to be like a push-and-pull system, and it’s going to be a great year.”

Days ago, I wrote about Pitt’s roster lacking three-point shooting around the outside. See the bottom of this article for their career numbers. Hint — Dunning has made 40 of 133 attempts in his collegiate career, a 30.1% mark. On Thursday, I asked him if he thinks that is part of his game that can improve this year at Pitt.

“Most definitely,” Dunning answered. “I started really slow my junior year at South Alabama with [3-pointers]. I picked it up and it just show my attention to my work and that’s why I’m up here early in the summertime, getting that work in. I just got done working out with Gilbert Brown before I came on here with you guys and were working on just, the basics, the fundamentals, shooting and just conditioning and I mean, for me, just to improve my shots and just working on my shot each and every day and just being disciplined in that work, each and every day on the floor.”

Check out the Panthers’ current roster below, listed with each players’ three-point shooting numbers in their collegiate careers.

Guards
Damarco Minor 104-349 (29.8%)
Beebah Cummings 29-77 (37.7%)
Nojus Indrusaitis 2-14 (14.3%)
Omari Witherspoon (FR)
Macari Moore (FR)

Wings
Barry Dunning Jr. 40-133 (30.1%)
Henry Lau (FR)

Bigs
Dishon Jackson 2-17 (11.8%)
Cam Corhen 9-36 (25%)
Papa Amadou Kante 0-2 (0%)
Amdy Ndiaye 0-1 (0%)
Kieran Mullen (FR)