PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Coming off the blowout win in the Backyard Brawl, Pitt will play its last home game until December 11 Monday at 7p against VMI. They also moved up to 19th in a major college basketball ranking.
Now 4-0 on the season, Pitt is 18 in the Ken Pom rankings ahead of Florida, Kentucky, Texas. They are also the third highest ranked team in the ACC.
"We still have a lot ways to go to be the team that we want to be, but I think we've gotten better in each game," said Pitt head coach Jeff Capel. "Certainly (Friday) the competition level was increased playing against a big-time opponent from a power conference. I like the way we stepped up to that challenge."
Ishmael Leggett is fifth in the ACC in scoring at 18.5 points-per-game with fellow guard Damian Dunn 13th at 16.2. In his junior season, Guillermo Diaz Graham as a career-high 8.2 rebounds-per-game average. Transfer forward Cam Corhen is second in the conference with a 65% field goal with point guard Jaland Lowe eighth in assists at 4.75.
Panthers played in front of nearly 11,000 against West Virginia and Capel is hoping for continued support against VMI.
"I think these guys deserve to have a crowd like that and hopefully it's something that we can have going forward, all the time," Capel said. "The past two years I think we've been a pretty good team and I think we've been an exciting team to watch. I think we are an exciting team to watch. Hopefully we can come out and have a great performance from fan attendance."
"I thought we played well (Friday), if we come out and we suck on Monday, I would be pissed. I thought the fans had a great night. We need them to be great again on Monday."
