DURHAM, N.C. -- A true sign of respect from an offensive standpoint is being allowed to operate through and earn one-on-one opportunities.
This holds true at every level of basketball, whether it be junior league, high school, college, or the pros.
While he is on a path to having a career season at Pitt, Jamarius Burton has gained the respect of opposing defenses in drawing their toughest interior defenders. But, as was the case on Saturday against Clemson and could remain true on Wednesday at No. 24 Duke, Burton is still going to take those opportunities in stride.
"I think I have felt comfortable with it, and we have felt comfortable with it all year with certain matchups, depending on what the defense is doing, how they're playing us," Jeff Capel said. "Obviously we have a lot of confidence in Jamarius. Whatever the play is, he's a good and willing passer. He has the ability because of his strength to get by people and to draw defenders. We feel very comfortable with the ball in his hands and him making plays for us."
Burton's role as the team's secondary ball handler behind Nelly Cummings has taken strides from the nonconference and into the ACC schedule, but his scoring has been a massive difference-maker for the Panthers over the course of their 4-1 start to ACC play. Burton has posted double figures in each game this season with the exception of a nine-point outing at Syracuse Dec. 20. Since that game, though, Burton has averaged 24.7 points per game, which included a 31-point outing in the Panthers' upset over No. 25 North Carolina and then his 28 points in the Panthers' 75-74 loss to Clemson on Saturday.
Burton is a prime piece and is easily the straw that stirs Pitt's drink on each end of the floor. He has had a reputation for playing hard defense, but his uptick in scoring has added another layer to Pitt's experienced and veteran core which has placed the team back into the national spotlight among ACC contenders.
He is ninth in the ACC in scoring at 16.6 points per game, joining Blake Hinson (tied for sixth at 16.9 ppg.) inside the top 10. Burton is shooting 55.3% from the field, good for fifth in the ACC, which is a massive upswing from the 40.5% he shot last year.
But he has not been taking as many 3-pointers as he did last season, all while also improving his scoring rate on those (44.8% this year to 32.9% last year). Most of his damage has come from drawing favorable matchups and taking the ball inside. On two-point field goals, his scoring rate balloons to 57.7%, a stark comparison from the 43% he clipped last season from inside the 3-point arc.
"They're old, they're tough, they can hurt you in many different ways," Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer said of Burton and Hinson Tuesday.
"So they make it hard on your defense. They can spread you and shoot, they can also attack the basket. And (Capel) has done an amazing job with his team. He's done a great job getting them ready, getting them to believe and buy into what the team needs. And we know it'll be a heck of a challenge tomorrow night."
Capel lamented a lack of physicality in Saturday's loss to Clemson, in which the Panthers were out-manned in the paint by a 34-14 margin. The Panthers will need every bit of that on Wednesday, with Duke's true freshman Kyle Filipowski and graduate transfer Ryan Young among the league leaders in rebounding. Duke is the best rebounding team in the ACC with an average margin of 8.6 per game over its opponent, and its overall defense ranks second in the ACC at 62.5 points allowed per game.
"Coach had a big emphasis of being strong with the basketball, so that was another key thing, is being strong with the basketball, not turning it over, especially when you get down in the paint," Burton said after Saturday's game. "They liked to collapse and they're sending guys, they're physical, so that was a couple of key adjustments that we made."
Pitt's matters in the paint on Saturday were not made easier with foul trouble, which is a hard predictor but is a sure influencer within stretches of games. That cannot happen again on Wednesday.
"It definitely affects us with our rhythm and flow, but when those instances happen where guys are in foul trouble, you know it's 'next man up,'" Burton said. "We had some good contributions off the bench to help us."
