Pitt vs Fairleigh Dickinson Live Feed: Panthers Run Away from Knights in Second Half

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers have won two in a row after shooting the lights out in the second half. Adjustments were key and Jeff Capel went to a thinner bench as they ran away from Fairleigh Dickinson late to earn a blowout win.

Game Information

Matchup: Pitt vs. Fairleigh Dickinson
Time: 8:30 P.M. ET
Where: Petersen Events Center
How to Watch: ACC Network
How to Listen: 93.7 The Fan

Live Game Chat

Come chat with our Inside the Panthers team. Stephen Thompson will share their thoughts and news, and any highlights from the game. Tweet at us at @InsidePitt to have your thoughts and reactions shared in the feed.

Stephen: Final - Pitt 83, Fairleigh Dickinson 61. The Panthers are 3-3.

Five of the seven players to see the floor for the home team scored in double figures and all of them had at least one bucket. They could have been much cleaner but took care of business against a team they needed to beat. The way they shifted away from the 3-pointer in the second half and focused on running to get easy baskets was an impressive show of awareness when shots weren't falling.

Up next is William and Mary at the Pete in three days, then a trip to Evanston, Illinois to take on Northwestern in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge three days after that.

Stephen: The Panthers lead 71-56 at the strike of the final media timeout. They led by as many as 19 in this half. John Hugley has 17 points and five rebounds, but four fouls. I think he's done for the night unless things get hairy quickly. Pitt's been able to outrun and outmuscle FDU and it's led to a 76% shooting mark from the field in the second half while they've taken a dramatic pivot away from the 3-point shot.

Stephen: Pitt solved the full-court press at halftime, because they are eviscerating the Knights right now. They've been able to outflank FDU off both misses and makes and lead 62-47 with 8:33 to play. The Statbroadcast says the Panthers have just 10 fastbreak points but I think that number should be much higher. I'm not exactly sure what's counted as a "fastbreak" or not, but Pitt's getting tons of easy looks because of their pace.

Nelly Cummings is not having a good shooting game, but Pitt will take a 4-1 assist-to-turnover ratio every day of the week and twice on Sunday's.

Stephen:

While defined offensive sets in the half court have been few and far between at times, Pitt’s baseline-out-of-bounds (BLOB) sets have been executed well and usually have led to a quality shot.
— Stephen Gertz (@Stephen_Gertz) November 23, 2022

Stephen: Make it a 17-3 run over the last 6:02 for Pitt, who now leads 56-37 with 11:58 to go. Jorge Diaz-Graham (11), John Hugley (13) and Jamarius Burton (14) have all scored in double figures. The Panthers are +14 in points in the paint, +8 in second-chance points and +10 in fast break points.

Stephen: Pitt has pushed their lead to 11 at the 15:38 mark of the second half. They're making a determined effort to play much faster in this period. You saw the beginnings of it in the first half and every time they've grabbed a rebound so far in the second, they've looked to push the ball up the floor.

Also of note from the first four minutes of the second period: John Hugley picked up a technical foul at the 18:40 mark and was immediately subbed out. He's got three personal fouls so far.

Stephen:

0 first half minutes for Fede Federiko, Guillermo Diaz-Graham and Nate Santos. Jeff Capel's going with a much shorter bench tonight - just 7 players have seen the floor. #Pitt
— stephen thompson (@stephenethom) November 23, 2022

Stephen: The Panthers have really turned up the defensive intensity to close the half. FDU didn't score for the final 4:18 of the first half and, unlike earlier in the period, I think it was a result of Pitt playing with better speed and communication on defense. They lead 35-28 at halftime behind eight points and five rebounds from Burton and nine points, four boards and a block from Hugley.

Pitt could afford to clean up better on the defensive glass - they've given up six offensive boards to a team that is much smaller than them - but other than that, they've done a nice job against one of the nation's highest-scoring teams, holding them 15 points off their average pace.

Stephen: Pitt is really struggling to break Fairleigh Dickinson's full-court pressure. The experienced guards are not playing like experienced guards. They've turned it over three times in the last seven minutes and the Knights have trimmed the deficit to three at 31-28. There's 3:22 left to play in the first half and Pitt hasn't made a field goal in nearly four minutes.

Stephen: The Panthers have extended their lead to seven at 29-22 with 6:43 left in the first half, but not really though much of their own doing. The Knights have missed their last seven shots and their field goal percentage has dipped below 40% for the first time tonight. I can't even really say Pitt's turned up the defensive intensity - FDU is just missing open looks.

Stephen: A 7-0 offensive rebounding advantage has turned into seven second-chance points for Pitt, who's also poured on three consecutive 3-pointers to take a 19-16 lead with 11:55 left in the first half.

Burton's scored six points. Hugley's scored five and grabbed four rebounds in the early going. The Panthers have made five of nine 3-point attempts and 16 of the game's 28 total shots have come from 3-point distance.

Stephen: Pitt trails 7-5 at the first media timeout. The offense looks real stagnant once again with the guards not looking to create much for themselves or the other guys on the perimeter. They've really been trying to look for Hugley down low but those looks haven't come within the flow of an offensive set.

Stephen: Capel will send John Hugley, Blake Hinson, Jamarius Burton, Greg Elliot and Nelly Cummings to the floor first. FDU head coach Tobin Anderson goes with Demetre Roberts, Heru Bligen, Grant Singleton, Sebastian Lamaute and Ansley Almonor as his starting five.

There are a couple of things I'll be watching closely. First, I'll be interested in how many minutes Hugley plays after playing 22 against Michigan and 19 against Alabama State while ramping back up from his knee injury. I'll also be keeping an eye on no. 2 in blue for the Knights, Roberts. The graduate transfer from Division II St. Thomas Aquinas is averaging 18.8 points and 5.2 assists per game while knocking down an even 40% of his 3-point attempts.

Stephen:

FDU's played 5 games and posted and adj. off. efficiency mark at or above the DI average in all of them. Knights are 24th in DI in points per game and 50th in turnover rate.

Good test for #Pitt's defense tonight, which has been more miss than hit so far this year.
— stephen thompson (@stephenethom) November 23, 2022

Stephen: Jamarius Burton is in uniform going through warmups with the Panthers about 40 minutes prior to tip. He missed the last game with knee inflammation. He suffered a knee injury during the preseason last year and missed the first couple of games of the season.

In case you missed it from over the weekend - Jeff Capel said junior forward William Jeffress will probably miss the entire season. He needs surgery on his foot stemming from an injury suffered during the preseason.

Stephen: You can and should expect dominance from Pitt against FDU tonight, not because they've done much to convince you they are a great team, but because that's what an ACC team should do against an NEC team. The Panthers were anything but dominant against Alabama State, KenPom's no. 350 team, until the second half.

It's embarrassing to be down double digits in the first half against a team like that, even if you rally to win by 20 or more like Pitt did. This team needs confidence right now and a good old-fashioned blowout is just what the doctor ordered.

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