Pittsburgh has proven to be one of the top teams in the ACC after a very bumpy start.
The Panthers started the ACC slate at 1-5, which seems shocking in retrospect, but it was against many of the other top teams in the league. Pitt lost twice to Syracuse, along with Clemson, Duke and North Carolina at home.
Pittsburgh coach Jeff Capel has gotten his young team to find its footing, including winning 67-64 at NC State on Feb. 7. The Panthers have won 10 out of their last 13 games, with the losses at Miami, Wake Forest and Clemson, all on the road.
Pittsburgh (20-10, 11-8 ACC) hosts NC State (17-13, 9-10 ACC) at 7:45 p.m. today on CW Network.
Overview
Star small forward Blake Hinson has been joined by freshmen guards Jaland Lowe and Carlton Carrington to rejuvenate Pittsburgh.
Pitt’s frontcourt won’t score a lot, but former High Point power forward Zach Austin and junior center Federiko Federiko of Finland provide defense.
Junior guard Ishmael Leggett, a former Rhode Island standout, has started 14 of 29 games and has become one of the best sixth men in the nation.
Rankings
Pittsburgh is No. 43 in the NET rankings, and NC State is No. 83.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Panthers ranked No. 32 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 74.
KenPom.com has Pittsburgh at No. 45, and NCSU checks in at No. 76 this season.
Shooting
Pittsburgh is averaging 75.6 points per game, and are shooting 43.5 percent from the field, 35.6 percent on three-pointers and 70.0 percent from the free-throw line.
Hinson has been blazing this season at 42.6 percent and he’s not afraid to fire, going 104 of 244 on the season. Carrington is second on the team with 56 three-pointers.
Rebounding
The Panthers are averaging 37.4 rebounds per game and have a plus-4.2 rebounding margin. Pitt has 348 offensive rebounds, with Federiko grabbing 71 of them.
The 6-3 Leggett leads the team in rebounding 5.4 a game, but he has help. Both Carrington and Federiko are at 5.2 rebounds a contest.
Defense
Pittsburgh is allowing 67.3 points per game, with opposing teams shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 30.7 percent on three-pointers.
Federiko has 42 blocks and Austin is right behind him with 41, and Leggett has a team-high 34 steals.
Depth
Pittsburgh is essentially playing two main guys off the bench with junior wing Leggett and sophomore post player Guillermo Diaz Graham, who also has a twin brother, Jorge.
Junior power forward William Jeffress will get a few minutes each game, but the Panthers don’t really have a fourth player to turn to.
Leggett is the third-leading scorer at 12.0 points per game, plus leads the squad in rebounding at 6-3 and 185 pounds. He averaged 16.4 points and 5.8 rebounds a contest last year at URI.
Star Watch
Pittsburgh senior Blake Hinson is a matchup problem for being a “jumbo” small forward at 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds.
Hinson can simply shoot over smaller wings, and he is not bashful in shooting three-pointers. Hinson has had a few epic performances this season, going 7 of 7 on three-pointers for 24 points in the 80-76 win at Duke on Jan. 20, but he also went 9 of 13 from three-point land for 41 points vs. Louisville on Feb. 17.
Hinson is fresh off of going 6 of 11 on three-pointers for 27 points in a 88-73 win vs. Florida State last Tuesday.
Hinson is averaging 18.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and usually plays at least 37 minutes, which he’s done in eight of his last 13 games.
The former Ole Miss and Iowa State transfer is 104-of-244 from three-point and for a career-high 42.6 percent this season. He’s had 11 games with at least 10 three-point attempts.
NC State did a solid job against Hinson in the first meeting, with wing Casey Morsell at only 6-3. Hinson went 5 of 13 from the field for 16 points in the win.
Hinson arrived last year at Pitt, and he averaged 15.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in helping the Panthers reach the NCAA Tournament. Hinson had 13 points and eight rebounds in a 68-60 Pittsburgh win over NC State on Dec. 2, 2022.
Hinson was ranked No. 105 overall in the class of 2018, and finished up at Bel Aire (Kan.) Sunrise Christian Academy. Hinson played his first three years for his father at Deltona (Fla.) High.
Likely Starters
NC State
PG — 12 Michael O'Connell (6-2, 195, Sr., 4.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.0 apg)
SG — 0 D.J. Horne (6-1, 175, R-Sr., 17.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.4 spg)
G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Sr., 11.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.9 apg)
PF — 23 Mohamed Diarra (6-10, 215, Jr., 5.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 0.2 apg)
C — 30 D.J. Burns (6-9, 275, Sr., 12.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.6 apg)
Pittsburgh
PG — 15 Jaland Lowe (6-3, 170, Fr., 9.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 3.3 apg)
SG — 7 Carlton Carrington (6-5, 190, Fr., 13.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.2 apg)
SF — 2 Blake Hinson (6-8, 230, Sr., 18.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 0.7 apg)
PF — 55 Zack Austin (6-7, 210, Jr., 6.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.9 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.4 bpg)
C — 33 Federiko Federiko (6-11, 225, Jr., 4.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.4 bpg)
Numbers Of Note
3 Elite Eight appearances by Pittsburgh with two in the modern era — 1974 and 2009 — and the 1941 squad reached the Final Four. The 2009 Panthers went 31-5 and 15-3 in the Big East under then coach Jamie Dixon.
4 NCAA Tournament appearances for coach Jeff Capel, leading VCU in 2003-04, Oklahoma in both 2007-08 and 2008-09 and Pittsburgh last year.
8,637 Average attendance for Panthers this season at Petersen Events Center, which has a capacity of 12,508.
Game Within The Game: Pitt's Jaland Lowe vs. NC State's D.J. Horne
Freshman point guard Jaland Lowe has proven one of the steals in the class of 2023.
Lowe wasn’t a sleeper — Rivals.com ranked him No. 110 overall in the class — but the 6-3, 170-pounder wasn’t expected to fill the Panthers’ void this fast and this effectively.
Lowe averaged 26.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game at Fort Bend Marshall High in Missouri City, Texas. His Godfather is John Lucas of Durham, N.C., who played at Maryland and played and coached in the NBA.
Lowe picked Pitt over offers from Memphis, Oklahoma State, SMU, Texas Tech, VCU, Washington State, and Wichita State.
The door opened for Lowe to have a major role when touted but troubled Pittsburgh point guard Dior Johnson departed the program for junior college last fall.
Lowe was thrust into a major role and is averaging 9.4 points. 2.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. He is shooting 38.8 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from three-point land.
Lowe came through for Pittsburgh with 20 points in the 67-64 win over NC State on Feb. 7. He has cracked double figures in 13 of the last 14 games. He also had 20 points against Syracuse on Jan. 16.
Conversely, he was in single figures for 14 of the first 16 games of the season, which included six of Pitt’s 10 losses.
NC State will likely start off with Stanford point guard transfer Michael O’Connell or Arizona State guard transfer D.J. Horne on Lowe. If Horne, he’s averaging 17.2 points per game and shooting 42.9 percent from three-point land, and he had 25 points and five three-pointers in the first meeting against Pitt.
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