Miami's Isaiah Wong (2) drives against Xavier Johnson (1) at Petersen Events Center. – AP

Pitt

Pitt’s Johnson mashes reset button

Feb 2, 2020 • 12:28 am

It's time to talk about Xavier Johnson.

I typed that sentence midway through the second half of this 62-57 Pitt victory over Miami Sunday at Petersen Events Center, fully expecting it to lead this story and to set the tone for the rest of the piece. Pitt was in the midst of squandering a nine-point halftime lead and letting the Miami Hurricanes storm back here at Petersen Events Center. Johnson, for his part, was missing shots. And forcing the issue. And turning the ball over.

It was ugly.

“After I shot the shot and I air-balled it — [the] double-clutch — coach told me, he said, ‘Shoot the ball,'" Johnson was saying at the podium after this one, addressing his struggles . "He yelled at me, and I said, ‘Alright, Coach.’ And the next thing you know …"

Yeah, Mr. Johnson. What did happen next?

Splash.

And then:

Yep. Same lede, different angle this time, my friends. Because it is time to talk about Johnson — and how he willed his Panthers to victory on a sun-soaked Sunday here in the Steel City. Pitt lost the lead, Miami going up by two, 53-51, after an Isaiah Wong layup with 2:41 to go. That three up there from Johnson immediately turned the tables, and Pitt never let go from there, sealing it with seven points in all from Johnson in a minute-and-a-half span, then icing the victory cake with four clutch free throws from Trey McGowens.

“Xavier’s three, the layup going through contact — but he was decisive. And it wasn’t hesitant," Jeff Capel was saying after the victory. "Those are big-time plays any time, but especially when you’ve had the afternoon like he was having. For him in that moment to forget everything and to be who he is and to do that [is huge].”

Let's rewind to that three from Johnson, though. Game on the line. His team had just coughed up the lead after outpacing Miami all day, and he had just missed a jumper, falling to 3 for 15 (20 percent) shooting on the day, including an 0-for-6 showing from beyond the arc.

But there was an interesting wrinkle in that poor shooting performance. Johnson was getting plenty of clean looks. He forced a few, no doubt, but overall, he took shots he should be taking. And that makes all the difference.

“Look, we tell all of our guys, this is the way I coach: If they’re good shots, I’m OK with them. I’ll tell you if it’s a bad shot. And what I consider a bad shot may not be what someone else considers," Capel said. "But I’m the one that matters. So I want my guys to have confidence in shooting the basketball. I don’t want them to be hesitant. And when they are, we tell them about it. It happens in practice with us where guys will miss a shot or miss a couple and all of a sudden they start passing up shots and I’ll stop the practice and tell them to shoot the damn ball. And so I want our guys to have confidence in themselves like I have in them when it’s a good shot.”

Now, back to Johnson and to that vital sequence. Here's what happened directly before that three in the first gif up there that gave Pitt the lead, same possession:

Johnson on the offensive glass, dribbles, penetrates ... and finds Justin Champagnie along the baseline. From there, Champagnie got stonewalled by DJ Vasiljevic providing some far-side help, so he kicked it back out to Johnson, who drilled the shot.

Everyone will point to the made shots for Johnson down the stretch — and they were huge — but that right up there is everything. Watch the composure. He secures a crucial offensive rebound, keeps his head up, surveys the scene and makes the smart play. Yep, italics for that one. Because in the loss to Wake Forest and in the loss to Louisville and, and, and throughout this season, Johnson did the opposite. He'd barrel into the lane, channeling a "me against the world" mentality in an attempt to lift his Pitt Panthers over the opposition.

It never works. That's not how a team game is played, and that's not how a point guard is supposed to operate.

On Sunday though? Go ahead and watch the gif again.

That's composure. And confidence. And then the looks followed, and Johnson drained them in the flow of the offense.

Funny how that works.

• None of that up there about Johnson is to diminish McGowens' clutch effort from the charity stripe down the stretch, either. He sank all four when the team needed him, and he committed precisely zero turnovers in the final 2:30 of vital play. That's after leading the team with four on the day — double those of Johnson, who was next closest.

"For Trey to step up and to knock those free throws in was huge," Capel said.

McGowens was asked if he does anything special to prepare for crucial moments like that in practice. His response made me chuckle.

“Not really. I guess just working on free throws," McGowens replied.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Make the shots. Not a bad strategy.

• I saw quite a few comments on our live file and on Twitter asking why Capel would keep Johnson in the game amid such a disastrous shooting performance. There are few reasons.

First, there's this, five minutes into the game:

Yeah, nobody on the bench can do that. Sorry.

Then, there's everything Johnson did in that final three minutes we already covered and the fact he also contributed six assists and three steals.

"I don’t think [anybody] sees that side of me," Johnson was saying when asked how important being a complete player is to him. "Everybody just sees me as a scorer, but they’re not seeing the little things that I do for this team. Because I’m a point guard at the end of the day, and that’s what coach wants me to do. He wants me to make the right play.”

But lastly — and this was a surprising answer from Capel in the post-game presser — is this:

"We don’t have a deeper bench. [Freshman Gerald Drumgoole] played. [Onyebuchi Ezeakudo] played. [Karim Abdoul Coulibaly] played. That’s our scholarship guys without [Ryan Murphy]. And Onye’s not a scholarship guy. So that’s who we have. That’s who we play."

That's just it. Help may be on the way, but it's not here yet. Gotta play your best guys, and Johnson is most definitely among them.

• Catch that "without Murphy" part of Capel's quote there? He missed this game after suffering a concussion in Thursday's practice. Capel said he was "not sure" if Murphy would be able to go for the team's next game, Wednesday on the road against Notre Dame.

• Au'Diese Toney, fresh off that career night against Duke, put up 13 first-half points on 5 for 7 shooting, pacing the Panthers with his continued offensive burst. He cooled significantly in the final 20 minutes, finishing with 15 on 6 for 15 shooting, but there's no doubt his offense has found a new level since coming back from an elbow injury in early January.

Capel even said Toney was "bouncier" now, to which Toney replied:

“Just brought the old high-school [Au’Diese] back. That’s all it is, really. I just used to dunk a lot in high school, so I was like, might as well just do it now. [I have] confidence in my legs and stuff, so that’s about it.”

On that front, I had to ask ...

Hey, man, see? Sometimes it is the hair.

• On the other side, Rodney Miller set a career-high with 16 points, while freshman Isaiah Wong added 15, Harlond Beverly notched 11 and Vasiljevic chipped in 10 to give the Hurricanes four scorers in double digits. They were down star guards Chris Lykes (groin) and Kameron McGusty to injuries in this one.

• Pitt's now 14-8 and 5-6 in ACC play this year with nine games remaining.

“As a team, we tell ourselves that we’re right there on the edge of making the tournament, so these last 10 games, we tell ourselves we gotta go all out and we gotta compete at the highest level," Johnson said after the game.

One down.

• Pleasant as Toney's been for this Panthers offense of late, let's not forget what he does as well as anyone. Capel certainly hasn't:

“I think he’s one of the better defenders in our league," Capel said after being asked about Toney's offense. "And I think his offensive game has continued to get better and he’s gotten more confidence.”

He's contained Elijah Hughes, Jordan Nwora, Buddy Boeheim and more throughout the year. Not bad for a sophomore.

• Sitting in the press area after the game, I had to snap a photo. It's not a good photo, but take a look at this:

Now, understand this: Pitt doesn't bring players to the podium after a bad game. They only bring you players who had a positive impact, and right there are three sophomores — all Capel recruits — seated side by side, laughing and joking together after a big conference victory.

That matters, and other media members certainly noticed, because the question was posed: Do you feel, as a trio, the program is headed in a positive direction right now?

“It’s in the right place right now," Toney replied.

“Just keep on growing, though, keep on getting better every day and just keep working," Johnson was quick to interject.

The image of those three — heads held high — is certainly welcome deep into the season, eh?

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore

• Video highlights

• ACC scoreboard

• ACC standings

THE STARTING LINEUPS

For Capel's Panthers:

Xavier Johnson, guard

Trey McGowens, guard