The Pitt Panthers are 1-0 in ACC play.
Jamarius Burton's 24 points and Blake Hinson's 13 paced the charge for Pitt in a 68-60 win over NC State on Friday to open the conference slate in Raleigh, N.C. It is the fifth win in a row for the Panthers, the first such streak since December of 2020.
"What a tough effort, to be able to go on the road, first game in the ACC against an outstanding opponent, and to defend the way that we did, to play with the toughness and the togetherness that we had for 40 minutes," Jeff Capel said after the game. "Really proud of the effort that our guys gave."
The Panthers shot 46% from the field overall, but made 19 of 32 attempts (59.4%) from inside the 3-point arc. Greg Elliott followed with seven points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Nike Sibande posted 10 points in 23 bench minutes.
Fede Federiko (six points on 3 of 5 shooting) played 26 minutes off the bench to spell the still-ailing John Hugley IV, who logged just 14 minutes and scored two points.
But this win in particular was more about the Panthers' defense. Leading NC State scorer Jarkel Joiner (17.2 points per game) was stuffed to one point, as he laid all zeroes from the field. Joiner was 0-for-12 from the field overall and 0-for-7 from 3-point range. The Wolfpack made just 6 of 27 attempts from 3, and never led by more than three points throughout the game. They shot 35% from the field.
“I’m just proud of our whole defense, everything that we did," Capel said. "We competed for 40 minutes. ... To be able to come on the road, the first ACC game for a lot of these guys, in a hostile environment against an outstanding team. A team that's averaging 83, to hold them to 60, to hold them to six 3s, they were making nine a game and to turn them over I think 12 times, that's a big-time performance.”
Terquavion Smith paced the Wolfpack with 15 points on 5 of 13 shooting, while D.J. Burns, Jr. added 13 off the bench.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Box score
• Top 25 scores
• Schedule
• ACC standings
• Statistics
THE SCHEDULE
• Pitt remains on the road for its next game, at SEC foe Vanderbilt on Wednesday. Tip-off in Nashville is at 9 p.m. The Panthers return home Dec. 10 for a non-conference tilt against Sacred Heart at the Petersen Events Center.
THE CONTENT
• You can listen to the latest episode of the H2P Podcast below.
