PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Freshman guard Omari Witherspoon had his first career double-figure scoring game as Pitt improved to 3-0 beating Eastern Michigan 78-66 Monday night at the Petersen Events Center.
The four-star from Washington DC finished with 15 points on 6-11 field goals, 2-4 from 3, two rebounds and two assists.
“We need this from Omari all the time, we think he’s capable of doing it,” said Pitt head coach Jeff Capel. “I think he’s practiced better the past couple of days. All of this is new for him, all of it.”
Cam Corhen had a team-high 16 points with seven rebounds. Transfer guard Demarco Minor had a Pitt-high 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals.
“He had a heck of a stat line,” Capel said. “He really made a couple of big shots late in the second half. I love how he competes. I love how he talks out there. I got to do a better job of getting him some breaks, probably too many minutes tonight, but he fought throughout.”
Freshman forward Roman Siulepa had a second consecutive double-figure game with 11 points.
Not satisfied
While pleased with the victory, especially the start of the game, there are areas to improve.
“We have to be able to play without fouls,” Capel said. “We have to do a better job of understanding situations throughout the game. We have to play through being a little bit tired. In those moments we have to listen more. We have to execute harder. We have to be more disciplined. We have to come out of time outs and not know what we are running, when we just spent two minutes drawing it up and talking about it. We can’t get a little shaky against the press.”
“I like some of the stuff that we did, but overall I don’t like how we played. I know our schedule is going to get tougher starting Thursday and we got to get better.”
“The last thing you want to hear is that we played soft. There was a lot of good out there. I think it’s just come back to training and get those bad habits out of the way. We got to be tougher.”
Another night of struggling from the free throw line, this one the entire game shooting only 52% against Eastern Michigan.
“I’m concerned,” Capel said. “We have to do a better job. We have to get out of our own heads. We have some guys that can get down on themselves. I’ve always felt a really good player has convenient amnesia. You have to be able to forget the bad stuff, concentrate on the good and move on to the next play.
Notes
Pitt had a 44-28 advantage in points in the paint
· Pitt shot 50% from the floor, 33% from 3
· Pitt had 14 assists to eight turnovers
· Pitt had a two rebound edge at 38-36
Cummings hurt
One of two remaining starters from last year, sophomore guard Brandin Cummings missed the game after suffering a lower-body injury in practice. He is considered day-to-day.
Up Next
The Backyard Brawl as the Panthers play at 3-0 West Virginia at 6p with pregame starting at 5:30p with the Voice of the Panthers Bill Hillgrove and former Pitt great Curtis Aiken.