PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pitt found out before the game they would be without the ACC’s leading rebounder and top scorer, along with their second leading scorer and rebounder due to leg injuries in practice.
They hung in there for most of the night, only to lose to 5-1 Louisville 64-54 Tuesday night at the Petersen Events Center.
“We were kind of depressed because those are our two big players and they are our brothers,” said freshman Femi Odukale. “We were torn that half of the season is cut due to injury, but we can’t sulk our heads. Everyone has to step up now.”
Pitt already knew they would be without head coach Jeff Capel because of a positive COVID-19 test, but lost ACC leading rebounder Justin Champagnie, who also scored 18 points a game, to a leg injury that could be between two to eight weeks of recovery.
Second-leading scorer, the team’s best defender and solid rebounder Au’Diese Toney, is day-to-day with an ankle injury but his foot was in a boot during the game on Tuesday.
“Obviously when you lose Justin and you lose Au’Diese a lot of that physicality and that toughness to rebound wasn’t there,” said Associate Head Coach Tim O’Toole. “The reality was we knew this and needed to be tougher and we needed to be more physical and we weren’t all night long.”
The Cardinals outrebounded Pitt by 19 and nearly had as many offensive rebounds as Pitt had defense. Freshman John Hugley had 7 points and 7 rebounds in some valuable minutes for the freshman.
Odukale entered the game when Xavier Johnson picked up his second foul with 8:50 to play in the first half. Pitt was down 14 points. The freshman from Brooklyn scored 12 points in a stretch that saw the lead cut to one.
“Before you know it, because Femi has such moxy as a guard,” O’Toole said. “He gave everyone this huge lift.”
Panthers were down two at half, but could never gain the lead in the second half and the rebounding woes along with shooting only 8-19 from the foul line, plus losing starters Xavier Johnson and Abdoul Karim Coulibaly, as each fouled out, took its toll.
“IT (Ithiel Horton), X (Johnson) and Nike have got to step up, John has to be a presence. Collier has to be a presence. We’ve got to keep finding ways to get more possessions and get into transition. The backcourt has to be the strength.”
Odukale led Pitt, 5-2, with a career-high 16 points and three steals.
O’Toole says it only gets tougher with the next game back at Duke on December 29. Head coach Jeff Capel expected to be back for that, O’Toole says Capel is doing well, just dealing with fatigue.
Capel has decided to allow his team to go home and be with their families for Christmas, about 48 hours before returning for coronavirus testing and the game with the Blue Devils.