PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pitt made two of its first 23 shots or they missed 21 of its first 23 shots. Yet won Wednesday night at Northwestern holding a lead for 5.6 seconds, final 71-70 in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge.
That lead was the final 5.6 seconds of the game as Xavier Johnson drove the lane and dished to Justin Champagnie for a baseline dunk.
“That was a relief moment,” Champagnie said. “We wanted to win that game so bad. We went out there, we played our hearts out and it just happened. It was a good feeling.”
“I saw Nance come up, he was too far and me and Justin literally made eye contact, eye-to-eye,” Johnson said. “I didn’t think he was going to dunk it, but he dunked it. He said he was cramping and I was like ‘you know you weren’t cramping’.”
Champagnie finished with 20 points and 20 rebounds, the first 20/20 game that a player had that Capel coached since Blake Griffin and the first for Pitt since DeJuan Blair at UConn on February 16, 2009.
“Justin was spectacular,” Capel said. “Justin was tremendous rebounding the basketball and finishing.”
Finishing was an issue for Xavier Johnson at halftime, making one of nine field goals in the first 20 minutes and ended up with 21 points (5-9 shooting from 3), seven rebounds and four assists. He also played, and sat, much of the second half with foul trouble.
“He was able to sit for a while with four fouls and come back in and finish the game out without picking up a foul,” Capel said. “He was able to adjust some of the things he did defensively. I think it speaks volumes to his maturity and growth as a player.”
And Johnson said to the maturity and growth of his team.
“Honestly I don’t think we would have come out of that slump,” Johnson said of if they had this situation last year. “It’s a different confidence. We hold ourselves to a higher standard, each and every one of us.”
It starts on the defensive end for as poorly as Pitt shot in the first half and parts of the second, they kept playing hard defensively.
“We’ve had a tendency in the past were we’ve let our offensive troubles affect our defense,” Capel said. “It did not do that tonight. Our defense was really good all night against a very, very explosive and outstanding offensive team.”
“It think its desire. I think its toughness. I think its having a grasp of what it is you are trying to do. I think its togetherness. I think its all of those things. I think they did a really good job of that tonight.”
“Coach Capel tells us to go back to our principles and remember our principles,” Johnson said. “Defense is going to win games. It’s not offense. It’s defense.”
Pitt’s highly ranked freshman class all played a role in Wednesday night’s win.
William Jeffress played 33 minutes with seven points, four rebounds and a pair of assists. John Hugley had a huge three-point play with 3:36 left. Noah Collier gave them energy, playing seven minutes with Abdoul Karim Coulibaly in foul trouble. Femi Odukale also played seven minutes with Johnson in foul trouble and finished with three assists.
“Will had some great moments,” Capel said. “Noah had some really good moments. Femi had some really good moments. John had some really good moments. I thought they all stepped up and really did some positive things for us. They made winning plays to help us win the basketball game.”
“They don’t know how big of an impact they made today until later on and they’ll see down the road because to them it’s a little bit, but to us it was a lot,” Johnson said.
Panthers are now 3-1 on the season and hosting Gardner-Webb Saturday at 4, the game-time changed to accommodate TV. Panthers pregame on 93.7 The Fan at 3:30p.
“Big, big-time win for us,” Capel said. “Really proud of our effort. Our guys fought and competed in a way that makes all of us, the coaching staff, really, really proud.”