Pitt vs Fairleigh Dickinson Takeaways: Panthers Overwhelm Knights Physically
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers are back to .500 on the season after defeating the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights 83-61 at the Petersen Events Center. They used a dominant second half fueled by their own athleticism to earn consecutive wins for the first time since they won three in a row against Florida State, NC State and UNC in early February of this year.
The Panthers have stabilized after three consecutive losses and are headed back in the right direction with some road tests against Power Five still to tackle in the non-conference slate.
Panthers Overwhelm Knights Physically
No one on the Knights' roster stands taller than 6'7, no one weighs more than 232 pounds and it showed up both on the court and in the box score. The Panthers were able to take advantage of their advantages in size and speed. They outflanked Fairgleh Dickinson in transition and backed them down in the paint on the way to a 76.9% mark on field goals and +15 point differential in the second half.
It took an adjustment at halftime from Capel and company, who needed to figure out ways to manage the Knights' full-court press. Capel added that his team's improved defense gave them even more opportunities to play with pace and get easy shots.
“We made an adjustment to our press break," Capel said. "We made an adjustment for how we attacked the press at halftime and I thought that got us some transition baskets, but also with the fact that we defended, we were able to rebound and get out and run and that’s something we talked about at halftime. Did a much better job of that.”
Hugley Back to Full-Go
John Hugley has been working his way back from a knee injury that kept him sidelined for all of the preseason and the first two games of the regular season. The Fairleigh Dickinson game marked just his third live action of the year and the first without a restriction on his minutes.
Hugley declined to put a tangible marker to how healthy he is, but did say that he wasn't limited by health. He only played 19 minutes, but Capel said that had more to do with his four fouls than anything else. Hugley scored 17 points, grabbed five rebounds, blocked a pair of shots and shot 70% from the field in that limited action.
Slim Rotation
Fede Federiko, Nate Santos and Guillermo Diaz-Graham played just a 1:41 each after establishing themselves as key rotation pieces through the first five games of the season. Even when Hugley struggled with foul trouble, he played Blake Hinson at the five while Jorge Diaz-Graham played as an abnormally big wing.
The way Capel spoke about it, this doesn't seem like it will be a regular thing. Capel said he just didn't like the matchup the Knights posed to those players and wanted more agility on the perimeter.
“It was just the rhythm of the game," Capel said. "It was an odd game with the size and so with Federiko and [Guillermo], those guys especially, it was a tough game. When we subbed when John got into foul trouble, we went a little smaller because we wanted to switch. We wanted to switch the ball screens, we wanted to contain the penetration and I don’t think those bigger guys were ready for that.”
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