The trip to New York was a lesson learned for Pitt basketball.
Since a 29-point drubbing to then-No. 20 Michigan and a come-from behind loss to VCU, Pitt has found a new gear; perhaps at just the right time.
The Panthers are 6-1 since the trip East. Though struggling in parts of those games, the outcomes have net in the positives each time except once. The outlier was a one-point loss at Vanderbilt Dec. 7 in a game which was winnable for Pitt down the stretch if not for some showed glaring inconsistencies throughout the latter stretch of the second half.
Pitt has one final nonconference test on Saturday to clean up what it feels it needs to, before the ACC-exclusive slate begins Dec. 20 at Syracuse. Nonetheless, the team feels like it's a different one from the one which set foot onto the floor in the Barclays Center a month ago, thanks to a built-up level of confidence displayed by resilience.
During Thursday's player availability at the Petersen Events Center, I came forward with the same question to each of Blake Hinson and Greg Elliott. I asked each of them what they felt they know about their team now that they did not know before the season started.
"Confident, confident, confident," Hinson said. "Coming into a situation where you don't know the people, you're not sure about how people really feel about themselves and how they feel about you. But I think everybody in that locker room is confident in me, and I think everybody's confident in each other, and I am, too. I didn't know that coming into it. A new situation, you don't know. The trust might not be there. I think the trust is there."
Elliott offered a remark in response about the team jelling throughout the course of each game.
"I would say how resilient we are,' Elliott said. "We were all new to each other, so it was like, you had no clue what these guys were like when the battle starts out there on the court. We go out there, we practice that, but it's different when you go in there and it's against a different opponent. I would say how resilient this team is. Being able to take a punch, get up, get off the mat, and keep fighting."
While, at times, it hasn't looked pretty, six wins in seven games is still six wins in seven games, and two of those carry substantial weight as either Quadrant 1 or Quadrant 2 games as dictated by the NCAA NET ranking.
(Pitt is 2-1 against "Quad 1" teams and 0-2 against "Quad 2" teams this season, and it is ranked 80th in the latest NET ranking.)
The win over Northwestern showed that the offense can plow through a stout defense -- the Wildcats were ranked fourth in the NCAA in scoring average entering that game -- and the win over NC State showed the Panthers' defense its capabilities. In that game, leading Wolfpack scorer Jarkel Joiner was held to one point and an 0-for-12 mark from the field overall.
"Honestly I could see it throughout our games," Elliott said, "but honestly I really saw it after we started 1-3. We came back from Brooklyn, that was gut-check time for a lot of people in our program, so for us as a group to come together and see where we're at now has been huge."
Since the return from Brooklyn, the Panthers had to run through two substantial gauntlets of four games in eight days and then three games in eight days. Pitt topped Sacred Heart 91-66 last Saturday, and will oppose North Florida at 1 p.m. this Saturday at The Pete, leaving the firs break of at least a week this season. Pitt then has a 10-day layover in between its next two ACC games -- at Syracuse Dec. 20 and against North Carolina on Dec. 30.
"You don't want to lose by 30 -- that's what happened with Michigan -- but you've got to take every loss as a lesson, I say," Elliott said. "We had some losses early that we had to learn from, but it takes a mature team to look in the mirror and be like, 'It's not about what they were doing against us; it's about the stuff that we didn't do well that cost us some games.' Once we fixed those things, it gave us better chances of winning games, and we pulled it out because we're an older team."
There is something to not having to prepare for an opponent, and instead utilizing the time within the gym for self-reflection, self-assessment, and, most important, rest.
"I think the biggest thing with is is talk, our communication in general, but mainly on defense," Hinson said. "Our defense can be really good and is really good when we communicate. Communication is the biggest thing, and that's what brings us together on and off the court. That's what we've been reflecting on, and we have talked about communication."
The Panthers have allowed an average of 62.4 points per game over their last seven, compared to allowing 75.3 points through the first four games to begin the season. The defense currently ranks sixth in the ACC with 67.2 points allowed per game.
There is still room for more growth from the Panthers' offense, which has hardly gotten contributions from John Hugley IV, who is still working back from the knee sprain he started the season with. Hugley could be the needed piece for the team which is seventh in the ACC in scoring at 74.5 points per game. Despite the average scoring numbers, Pitt is still just 10th in the conference in field goal percentage, at a 44.3% clip overall from the field.
"I think he's on his way," Elliott said. "It just comes with getting reps. The more reps he gets, I feel like the more he'll feel more comfortable playing with us because that's how it is. Especially with a knee injury. Once you go through that it takes some time to get back right. We understand that and we definitely are waiting on him to get back to it."
