It wasn't pretty, but Pitt might have seen Xavier Johnson's most complete performance since his freshman year. It was a good sign that Johnson may be on his way to becoming the leader this team needs to be more competitive in the ACC this season.
Johnson led the Panthers with 27 points and eight assists in their 83-74 win over Drexel on Saturday at the Petersen Events Center. The win puts Pitt at 1-1 after dropping the opener to Saint Francis (PA) on Wednesday.
Pitt's 80-70 loss to Saint Francis saw Johnson as an erratic point guard who was unable to establish any consistent rhythm on offense. He shot 22.2 percent from the field, only scoring nine points with seven turnovers.
Johnson protected the ball much better against Drexel, only turning it over three times.
“I thought he valued the basketball a little bit more, and slowed down the play to a better pace," Jeff Capel said. "He was really locked in on both sides of the ball. I thought that was key. He thought he made pretty good decisions, since he has been playing well in practice. His turnovers today were a lot better, which was because he valued the ball. Obviously, he was able to get to the basket and make some shots, made a huge three in the second half for us when they started to cut the lead.”
That three-pointer was huge from Johnson, as Drexel had cut Pitt's lead to five. He finished 3 of 7 from beyond the arc, tying a career high for makes on long-distant shots.
“That loss hurt, it really did," Johnson said. "Practice was a little bit down. No one talked. We had two practices back-to-back yesterday and today was just a different day. The sun was up, everyone was just happy and forgot about the last loss. We came out there today and were ready to play.”
Johnson was especially ready, as he had several drives through Drexel's defense that sparked the Panthers' offense.
Watch how Johnson uses a quick spin move to split a double team before making a contested layup in the paint:
That's the athleticism and the flow that Johnson has to bring for this team to be at its best.
Au'Diese Toney, who finished with 20 points for a second straight game, wasn't surprised by Johnson's performance.
“Just being X," Toney said what Johnson did to rebound from Wednesday. "Really just being more of a leader on the court, not second guessing himself and just playing ball.”
Johnson was also helping on defense, calling out switches to keep the defense on task and helping with two steals.
Here's one of those, where you can see him go coast to coast after the steal, putting the ball behind his back for a fancy layup on the other end:
But Capel knows Johnson can be fast, explosive and aggressive to the basket.
Where Johnson showed his biggest growth in the game was in his court vision to create opportunities for his teammates. Pitt struggled with Saint Francis' zone defense all of Wednesday night, unable to penetrate and find anything dependable to create open shots.
Johnson was a huge part of how the Panthers didn't run into that problem against Drexel's zone. And again, Johnson combines his strength with better vision to make it happen. Watch how he takes the ball and splits the zone, freezing both of Drexel's forwards. That frees up Justin Champagnie for an easy bucket in the paint:
That has to happen more consistently for Johnson if the Panthers want to take a big step this season.
Johnson averaged just 4.9 assists per game last season, as plenty of times he would just put his head down with the ball and charge through double and triple teams from opponents, ignoring the positioning of his teammates.
He's averaging nine assists per game in Pitt's first two performances this season, almost doubling his average from last season.
Johnson represents Capel's first freshman class and the best example of how he can develop a player. If Johnson can continue his rise to become more than the athletic slasher he's been the past two seasons, it would be a good sign for what Capel can do as a coach and that the program may be able to climb out of the crater it found itself after the Kevin Stallings era.