Something is noticeably different about Nelly Cummings, and that has been for the benefit of Pitt over its recent stretch of winning.
The Panthers' point guard has grown in a tremendous and noticeable fashion since the start of the season. His transferring from Colgate -- a process which he described to me at ACC media day as a "speed dating" type of game -- brought the Midland, Pa., native back to a familiar setting, but that adjustment had not produced fruitful outcomes through the first few games of the season.
One month makes a world of a difference.
"I think it's just about me getting comfortable," Cummings told me on Saturday. "I've played now, what, 12 games, so a lot of players who make the adjustments and make that jump, you've got to make that adjustment. So, getting comfortable, more time on the court with these guys, more time with the coaches, more time in the arena, all of that just allows me to open myself up, open my game up."
Cummings has settled in as the Panthers' primary ball handler, and he has led the charge to a string of seven Panthers wins in eight games since returning from the Legends Classic in Brooklyn.
He exited Saturday's 82-56 win over North Florida fifth in the ACC with 4.7 assists per game, and his 1.9 assists-per-turnover ratio is tied for ninth best in the conference. Cummings has drastically improved as a passer and decision maker with the ball, going from averaging 3.5 turnovers per game in his first four games to posting an average of 1.9 turnovers per game over his previous eight. Over those last eight games, he has registered just one game of more than two turnovers -- it was Saturday's game against North Florida, in which he turned it over three times.
"I think it's not like a certain amount of games it takes; it's more just a rhythm thing," Cummings said. "Feeling everybody out, and really just limiting distractions and trying my best just to key in on every single game, every single play, every single possession, like more than just looking at the big-picture aspect. When we started the season, we were looking at who can we be, how can we be, what identity we want to form, but I think now we're able to have a more singular focus."
Cummings' evolution as a true point guard has come from just being that, in Jeff Capel's system.
He is in a completely different situation from when he was at Colgate. He was called upon to be the Raiders' focal point as a scorer and not a facilitator -- a role which worked for him -- and instead is now the driving force for the creation of scoring chances for fellow Panthers Greg Elliott, Jamarius Burton, and Blake Hinson. Cummings still has all of those shot creation and scoring traits he used to employ at Colgate, but he has not had to rely on them in a total sense in order to be effective at Pitt.
"I think at Colgate, I think Nelly's primary job was to win and to do whatever it took to win, and I think he did that," Capel said after Saturday's game inside the Petersen Events Center. "He obviously did that at an incredibly high level, it just happened that he scored (for Colgate). And they had other guys, I mean, they were really, really good, so they had other guys to score it, as well. If you take today's game away, the last four games he was right at 17 a game, 16.8 I think is what it was, and his percentages were really good. He's a good player, and he can impact the game in a lot of different ways, and probably just as important, he's mature enough to understand that, which is a big thing for us."
Over the four-game stretch Capel talked about, Cummings averaged 16.3 points per game, so his estimation was not at all far off.
Cummings has picked up some of the slack left by an ailing John Hugley IV and an absent Will Jeffress, posting double digits in scoring in three of his last five games. Cummings turned in season highs in points in each of his last two games entering Saturday -- an 18-point performance at Vanderbilt, and a 24-point outing last Saturday against Sacred Heart. This is all coming with an increase of minutes, as well. He has logged at least 30 minutes of playing time in each of his last five games. He played a season-high 38 minutes last Saturday against Sacred Heart.
"It definitely looks like the game has slowed down for Nelly a lot," Elliott said this week. "It looks like he's been attacking more, I feel like. He just has that attack mindset, especially last game (against Sacred Heart) not having J.B., he had the ball the whole game. That gave him some familiarity, something he did a lot at Colgate, so I feel like him being aggressive is where it starts with him looking comfortable out there on the court."
Cummings has recorded at least five assists in four of his last five games and six of his last eight games, including Saturday, while chipping in seven assists on Saturday to tie his single-game high this season.
"It allows me to be a complete point guard," Cummings said. "I don't have to stress myself about, 'oh, I have to score 20 today to win.' When you have guys that are -- our team is full of guys that are really, really good, so sometimes my role is not going to be to score points; it's going to be to make sure I'm getting those guys involved. I'm very comfortable doing that, and I'm very excited to have the opportunity to do that."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Hugley was unavailable for Pitt on Saturday due to what was described as "personal reasons." Despite this, he was on the bench in street clothes for the game.
Hugley, though unavailable today due to “personal reasons,” is in the building but not in uniform during warmups.
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) December 17, 2022
Interesting. https://t.co/dmgrTsK4iu pic.twitter.com/FKGYp0Pn8r
Capel said after Saturday's game that Hugley is "just dealing with some things" that are not academic nor team related.
"He's fine," Capel said. "It's nothing physical, it's nothing academic, nothing off the court. Just dealing with some things, and we support him. We have his back and want to help him."
Capel said Hugley's availability for Tuesday's game at Syracuse is in the air.
"I don't know. We'll see," Capel said.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Box score
• Top 25 scores
• Schedule
• ACC standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE CONTENT
• Visit the Pitt team page and my Twitter feed for more coverage from the Petersen Events Center. Gary Morgan and I are reuniting for a fresh H2P Podcast on Sunday, so check for that on all platforms between Sunday evening and Monday morning.
