How Capel's plan for Hugley could make him first-team All-ACC

Pitt basketball saw a historic performance from the Panthers' center John Hugley IV Saturday, when the 6-foot-9 sophomore posted 32 points and 13 rebounds in their 69-67 win over Boston College.

It was the second consecutive year and just the fourth time since 2009 that a Pitt player scored more than 30 points while recording more than ten rebounds in a single game, matching Justin Champagnie's performance last season, and games from DeJuan Blair and Sam Young from Pitt's 2009 season:

Hugley has maintained his status as Pitt's leading scorer and rebounder with 15.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He's also the tenth leading scorer in the ACC and the fourth leading rebounder in the conference. He came to Pitt last season as a four-star prospect who played in seven games to average 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last year before a suspension cut his season short.

He obviously improved throughout his offseason, as you can compare his performances this season to the film study I put together of his work in the paint early last season. Hugley has gone from a powerful but unsure paint presence to a dominant force who bullies defenders in the post and has built more skills into his game.

The bulk of Hugley's success stems from his ability to bully opposing centers as he posts up underneath and then works with the ball. Watch how he backed down center James Karnik and you can see how he's worked his strength and weight to bump Karnik's body out of the way and establish himself under the basket:

That's become the standard for watching Hugley play in 2022.

He's also used that style to force forwards and centers from Pitt's opponents to initiate contact with him before and during his backdown moves in the post, which consistently draws fouls. This consistently puts opponents in foul trouble, which was especially true against Boston College as Hugley drew 15 personal fouls from the Eagles' players and fouled out their top two centers in Karnik and Quinten Post. 

Putting players in foul trouble has been Hugley's forte on top of scoring and rebounding for Pitt. According to KenPom, Hugley averages 7.3 drawn fouls per 40 minutes of play, which is the tenth-highest rate in the country. That's also easily the highest rate in the ACC, with the next closest being Duke's Paolo Banchero's average of 6.0 fouls drawn per forty minutes.

"It's about physicality," Jeff Capel said when asked about Hugley's style during a Monday ACC coach Zoom conference. "It's about creating contact and playing through contact. He's a big guy, and to try to move him it's going to draw contact. He's unique in that sense because he's able to create contact so much when he's just trying to post up and get angles down low."

Hugley came to Pitt knowing that physical style of play worked, but he had to compound it with several factors to make himself formidable as an ACC forward. Coming from last year he had to learn how to combine that physical aggression in the paint with the coordination of a skilled scorer, and this year he had to improve his conditioning. Capel mentioned that as one of Hugley's biggest challenges in the Panthers' opening exhibition against Gannon, as Hugley fatigued late in the contest and looked unwilling to continue his physical style of play late, exhausted from the work it required.

But now, that's an issue that Hugley's practically made nonexistent. He played 37 minutes against Boston College Saturday, and was still playing his physical style of basketball and hitting free throws in the final minute of the game that helped seal the Panthers' first ACC win.

"I feel great," Hugley said Saturday about playing 37 minutes. "I didn't even know I was out there for 37 minutes. I'm expecting to get double-teamed every time. But I have to find my open teammates and trust they'll do the right thing."

When Hugley can consistently be this type of a dominant presence, it opens up plays the Panthers can execute for easy baskets. Take this half court possession when Femi Odukale brought the ball up, then cut to his right as Jamarius Burton drew a screen to create an open passing lane down to the low blocks. While all that happened, Hugley waited on the baseline to attack Boston College's third center, Justin Vander Baan, who was only in the game because of the foul trouble Hugley had put the Eagles' top two centers in earlier in the game.

The result was Hugley establishing inside position and scoring easily:

But for Hugley to be the complete player Pitt needs, he has to develop more skills than just bully tactics in the paint.

Capel has worked with him on that, as Hugley has also developed good half court awareness to find teammates when he draws attention from defenses. Hugley has provided 23 assists on the season for Pitt, third-most on the team behind the Panthers' top guards Burton and Odukale. Most of those have come when Hugley's been fed the ball in the post, drawn a double-team, and he's found the open man. But Saturday you even saw Hugley doing that off a drive to the basket.

Watch how Hugley's drive forced Boston College to collapse its defense in, opening up an opportunity for William Jeffress to have an open shot that shrunk Pitt's deficit down to a single point in second half Saturday:

That's something that could help Pitt's other scorers get more open looks as the season continues.

Getting to this point took a lot of hard work from Hugley, which Capel has commended all season. But Pitt's head coach has been clear that even with Hugley's Saturday performance putting him with talented company in Pitt history, he has to stay focused on the work that's helped him get to that point and not feel satisfied with that success.

"It's just a matter of showing up every day," Capel said of Hugley's improvement. "A really, really good player shows up every day and tries to get better. He can't be satisfied with Saturday. We talked about that with him Sunday. He had an outstanding game, but I think there's more that he can do. It's our job and my job to challenge him to do more and to push him to do more. I think he's capable of that."

One aspect Hugley must improve upon is turnovers, which he led Pitt with seven against Boston College and has a team-high of 41 on the season. Protecting and valuing the basketball has been one of the most preached things by Capel this season and Hugley is still a young player learning when and how to be aggressive. One example of when he needed to avoid that tendency was this turnover late in the game that could've led to disastrous results for Pitt. 

Remember the drive and dish he had to Jeffress for the open shot? That came off the wing where Hugley was able to isolate his drive between one defender and the baseline, creating a better chance for his dribble to not be attacked on both sides. But on this play Hugley tries the same drive up the middle of Boston College's zone defense. That results in his getting stripped of the ball and a fast break chance for Boston College, but Burton made a heads-up play to draw the charge and save the possession:

Burton saved the moment in a game that came down to Pitt winning because it outplayed Boston College in crucial moments late by the slimmest of margins.

But Capel knows that Hugley, and his entire team, have to eliminate those kind of mistakes.

"We still have a long ways to go," Capel said of his team. "Some of the same mistakes we've had in these other games when we had a lead are still there. We have to learn from them and get better so that we're not in close situations at the end where it comes down to a final play."

Still, Pitt is starting to see elements of Hugley's game that are making him an all-around talent that opponents will have to plan around as more than just a paint presence. Watch how Hugley played this inbound and jumped the pass to Post, creating the fast break opportunity that he smoothly finished with a layup:

That play sparked an 11-3 run for Pitt to erase a nine-point deficit in the first half.

Pitt's already shorthanded this season with Nike Sibande out for the season on a torn ACL and Ithiel Horton's suspension was renewed after his initially dropped criminal charges were re-filed by the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office. If Hugley's continued growth and improvement can help Pitt win some more ACC games this season, look out for him getting more recognition in his conference as teams struggle to defend him.

Do that for long enough and Hugley could be in consideration for All-ACC honors at the end of the season, and put him in prime position for First Team All-ACC next season.

• Capel also said during his Monday Zoom conference that senior walk-on guard Onybuchi Ezeakudo could potentially play into attaining a scholarship from the program with his efforts this season. In the absence of Sibande and Horton, Ezeakudo has played an average 17.7 minutes per game this season coming off the bench. While he only averages 2.0 points per game, his 20 assists are fourth-most on the team while his nine steals rank fifth for Pitt players.