NC State opens the ACC portion of the schedule with 5-3 Pittsburgh coming to PNC Arena on Friday.

The Panthers under coach Jeff Capel have seemingly gone through a patten of one step forward and two steps back the last five years. Some of it has been bad luck with players transferring out, and then there have been some key suspensions.

The attrition started before this season when freshman point guard Dior Johnson, who has a checkered past, was suspended after multiple charges against him in October. Rivals.com ranked Johnson No. 40 in the class of 2022.

Pittsburgh has defeated all the weaker teams on its schedule, but is coming off an impressive 87-58 win at Northwestern. Pitt shot an outstanding 14 of 22 on three-pointers for 63.6 percent against NU.

The 7 p.m. game will be on the ACC Network.

Pittsburgh hit the portal hard last spring with Ole Miss power forward Blake Hinson, Colgate guard Nelly Cummings and Marquette shooting guard Greg Elliott. That trio has joined redshirt sophomore center John Hugley IV and senior wing Jamarius Burton in the lineup. Burton is a former transfer from Wichita State.

Freshman 6-11 twins Jorge Diaz Graham and Guillermo Diaz Graham of Spain were both added last spring to complete the makeover of the roster.

Rankings

Pittsburgh was No. 339 in the NET rankings last season, and NC State was No. 139.

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Panthers ranked No. 103 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 39.

KenPom.com has Pittsburgh at No. 88, and NCSU checks in at No. 48.

RealtimeRPI.com has NC State ranked No. 58 in the country, and Pittsburgh is 77.

Shooting

Pittsburgh is averaging 73.3 points per game and is shooting 43.6 percent from the field, 33.3 percent on three-pointers and 73.0 percent at the free-throw line.

The Panthers had really struggled from beyond the arc prior to the Northwestern outburst Tuesday. Hinson is shooting an impressive 42.9 percent as a power forward, and Burton is at 41.2 percent. Elliott is shooting a career-low 34.1 percent this season through eight games, but he was a sharp-shooter at Marquette. He went 30-of-66 shooting on three-pointers for 45.5 percent in 2020-21.

Rebounding

Pittsburgh is averaging 40.1 rebounds per game this season, and is plus 6.3 in rebounding margin.

Hinson leads the way at 6.8 rebounds per game and has a team-best 20 offensive rebounds. Hugley averaged 7.9 rebounds per game last year, but has fallen to 4.8 rebounds with his minutes down 10 minutes per game.

Defense

Opposing teams are averaging 67.3 points per game and shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 30.3 percent on three-pointers.

Hinson leads the squad with 11 steals and reserve sophomore center Federiko Federiko has nine blocks off the bench.

Depth

Pittsburgh played three players at least 10 minutes against Northwestern and had played 10 players in the rotation this season.

Fifth-year senior wing Nike Sibande played his first three years at Miami (Ohio), where he averaged a career-best 16.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in 2018-19. He made the move to Pittsburgh and has battled injuries. He’s averaging 6.5 points and 4.4 rebounds in 19.4 minutes off the bench this season.

Sophomore center Federiko Federiko, who is 6-11 and 220 pounds from Finland, is adding 2.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 16.4 minutes per game. The two Diaz Graham twins, are joined by sophomore forward Nate Santos in the frontcourt.

Junior power forward Blake Hinson has improved across the board with his increased role at Pittsburgh.

The 6-foot-7, 235-pounder played his first two years at Ole Miss, where he played with NC State point guard Jarkel Joiner, and was with NCSU assistant coach Levi Watkins. He averaged 10.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, but shot just 39.6 percent from the field in 2019-20 with the Rebels. He then transferred to Iowa State, and was forced to redshirt due to health reasons in 2020-21. Hinson left the Cyclones before the start of last year.

Hinson has improved to 16.8 points and 6.8 rebounds in 30.8 minutes per game for the Panthers. He is shooting an impressive 52.4 percent from the field and is 18 of 42 on three-pointers for 42.9 percent.

The Deltona, Fla., native had 22 points, eight rebounds, five assists and went 4 of 5 on three-pointers in the 87-58 win over Northwestern on Monday. He also had 27 points and 13 rebounds in a 80-58 victory over Tennessee-Martin.

Rivals.com had Hinson as a four-star prospect and ranked No. 105 overall in the class of 2018. He was originally in the class of 2019. Hinson got on the radar of colleges when he played on a powerhouse Nike Team Florida15s squad with future Duke center Vernon Carey and future Florida State center Balsa Koprivica. Hinson finished his prep career with Bel Aire (Kan.) Sunrise Christian Academy.

NC State

PG — 1 Jarkel Joiner (6-1, 180, Sr., 17.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.8 spg)

SG — 0 Terquavion Smith (6-4, 165, Soph., 16.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 5.3 apg, 2.0 spg)

G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Jr., 14.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.6 spg)

PF — 5 Jack Clark (6-8, 200, R-Jr., 10.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, 2.1 spg)

C — 30 D.J. Burns (6-9, 275, R-Jr., 6.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.9 apg)

Pittsburgh

PG — 0 Nelly Cummings (6-0, 185, Sr., 9.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 4.3 apg)

SG — 3 Greg Elliott (6-3, 180, Sr., 9.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.5 apg)

SF — 11 Jamarius Burton (6-4, 200, Sr., 14.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.1 apg, 1.0 spg)

PF — 2 Blake Hinson (6-7, 235, Jr., 16.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.4 spg)

C — 4 John Hugley IV (6-9, 265, Jr., 10.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 0.8 apg, 1.2 bpg)

13 Free throws made by former NC State recruiting target John Hugley IV in Pittsburgh's 71-69 win over the Wolfpack last year. Hugley went 13 of 15 at the free-throw line to finish with 21 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two blocks.

19 Points scored last year for Pitt guard Nelly Cummings, who was playing for Colgate. He went 5 of 7 on three-pointers to finish with 19 points before fouling out in a 77-74 loss at NCSU.

41.3 Percentage from three-point land over the last four games. Pitt has gone 43 of 104 on three-pointers during that stretch.

Former Charlotte (N.C.) Independence star Jamarius Burton has become the ultimate glue guy for Pittsburgh.

Burton played his first two years at Wichita State and then made the move to Texas Tech. He struggled finding his fit with the Red Raiders and transferred to Pittsburgh for the 2021-22 season. He found his game again and averaged 12.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game last year, and shot 32.9 percent from the field.

Burton had 17 points in the Panthers’ 71-69 win over NC State on Feb. 12 last year. He also had five games where he scored at 20 points, with a season-high 21 against Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Louisville.

Burton has improved to 14.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists a contest, and he’s shooting 54.2 percent from the field and career-high 41.2 percent on three-pointers. He is fresh off of getting 14 points, seven assists and three rebounds in win over Northwestern.

Burton’s recruitment got slowed at Independence High due to a knee injury his junior year. He also played with Team Loaded NC. Burton had a solid senior year at point guard and signed with Wichita State in the spring, over offers from Butler, George Mason, Temple and UMass, among others. Penn State was his lone Power Five Conference offer.

NC State redshirt junior wing Casey Morsell continued his hot shooting Tuesday, making six three-pointers and scoring 23 points in the 85-64 win over William & Mary. Morsell is averaging 14.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, and is shooting 53.2 percent from three-point land.

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