The Panthers held their first public scrimmage of the season Saturday at the Petersen Events Center, giving the first look to Pitt's new basketball roster with three new transfer players in Mouhamadou Gueye, Daniel Oladapo and Jamarius Burton, and JUCO addition Chris Payton.
What was the most enlightening point of the scrimmage was seeing how Pitt was able to use its front court players to defend and attack the paint as big men for the Panthers.
Pitt hasn't had a real big man or paint presence on its basketball roster during the Jeff Capel era, and that's been a hinderance to the Panthers having a complete team during the last three seasons.
Since the Jamie Dixon era, Pitt hasn't seen any prospects develop into true threats in the paint as defenders or offensive big men who could bully opponents underneath the basket. That was thought to maybe have been ended with Pitt's 2020 recruiting class as Capel brought in John Hugley IV, a 6-foot-9, 240 lbs. center who looked the part of a physical bruiser for the Panthers last season.
But after seven games, Hugley was put into COVID protocols and then eventually suspended due to felony charges that would be dropped later in the year before he was reinstated into the program in the spring. That left Pitt with very limited options at center and forward to play in the paint, and Capel to deploy more lineups with four guards and a single forward to get bullied by teams like North Carolina and Georgia Tech who boasted multiple talented big men.
Now with Hugley back, along with Gueye and Oladapo, Pitt stands a real chance to have a real paint presence with their big men. And you could see the Panthers work to use those players during the scrimmage. Gueye led all players with 12 points and 8 rebounds, while Hugley scored six points and two rebounds. Oladapo also had six points and five rebounds.
“I feel like we did a lot of good things today out on the floor,” said Gueye after the scrimmage. “We were able to really take what we have been working on in practice all these weeks and finally translate it out there. It is good preparation for our next scrimmage. We will come back in tomorrow for practice and watch film and they will teach us a few things and correct us in areas we need to work on. It was good to just be out here playing.”
One thing that did look like it translated well for the Panthers during the scrimmage was their use of spacing. On each end of the court, different offensive sets, regardless of the players running them, had a forward or a center helping to work the paint and stretch the floor for the shooters on offense to get more space to cut for open passing lanes or score from the outside if necessary.
Femi Odukale went through last season as a point guard for Pitt without that kind of a paint presence, and noted it after the scrimmage.
"It means a lot," Odukale said about having more big men. "It forces other ACC schools to send their five-man to come out on the perimeter. That helps us space them out and now they have to work to guard out high instead of hiding low on the block. It adds to our versatility."
"It makes us really versatile," added Gueye. "We have so many people who can pull and plug in different places. With big guys and wings like me, Dan and Chris, we can really stretch the floor. But then when we want to go to small ball, we can be moved to the five. That makes us a lot more versatile to defend, but it also makes us more versatile as a defensive team. That gives us extra length and when we all move our feet we can switch between our men and play the passing lanes."
Gueye's speaking on versatility is important, as he's a 6-foot-9, 210 lbs. forward who hit 2 of 4 three point shots during the scrimmage. More of Pitt's three point shooters saw cleaner opportunities beyond the arc because of that spacing. Between Gueye and Pitt's guards, they collectively shot 39 percent on three pointers during the scrimmage. Last year, the team's percentage was 33.8.
Hugley played a big role in that versatility as he played in the post both underneath the hoop and further out towards the top of the key. When he felt like he didn't like a matchup, he showed he could fire quick passes to different points of the court to give other guards chances to hit shots in space. On Pitt's first possession of the scrimmage, he turned a pass to the free throw line into an assist to Odukale who broke through on a backdoor cut to the basket.
For Odukale, it was refreshing seeing his Hugley bring that role to the team after working with him leading up to last season.
"It was great to see him on the court and competing," Odukale said of Hugley. "I knew he's always had it in him. He's become more mature and handles more situations the right way. It means a lot to have him back on the team to battle down low for us. He's a big guy who can win in the post, back people down and score with hook shots too. He's helping us on defense and he's talking more too."
Hugley is still 19 years old and developing as a player to learn how to use his size and skills. But Gueye is a much more experienced player as a graduate student who understands how to play off different roles on the court. He sees how the threat of the bigger bodied Hugley can bring to teams regardless of how aggressive he wants to be with the ball.
"Even if he decides he doesn't want to score on a play, teams know how much of a threat he is," Gueye said of Hugley. "That shrinks the defense in and he's a great passer always looking to kick the ball out. That helps everyone else around him find the ball to get better shots."
Hugley is part of Capel's biggest freshman class in his recruiting years at Pitt alongside Odukale, William Jeffress, Noah Collier and Max Amadasun. That group's first year of experience was during a season disrupted by COVID-19, but now, that group feels closer than ever because of how they had to work to be teammates during that time.
"It helps us a lot," Odukale said. "During the COVID year we couldn't go outside a lot. So we would just go to each other's rooms and play games and talk to each other. We've always had a feel for each other, but now we're watching each others' backs and talking to each other."
Hugley was the top recruit of the 2020 class. If he can figure out his role as a big man for the team alongside Gueye and Oladapo, it sets a tone for the other freshmen to find theirs and put together the building blocks for Capel to have a complete team with threats at different positions. That's something the Panthers haven't had during his era and an advantage that could lead the Panthers push to having their first winning season since Dixon coached them to 21-12 in the 2015-2016 year.
