Sheldon Jeter led all Pitt players with 23 points as the Panthers returned home from a two-game road trip and handled visiting Virginia Tech rather easily, defeating the Hokies 90-71 Sunday at the Petersen Events Center. Jeter got his first start of the season and made an immediate impact for the Panthers, making 9-of-13 field goal attempts on the night, grabbing seven rebounds as well.
Michael Young and Jamel Artis also finished in double figures for the Panthers, scoring 13 and 11 points respectively.
Pitt (17-4, 6-3 ACC) showed their depth as at eight different players scored at least six points for the Panthers.
The Panthers shot 52.9 percent from the floor on the night and controlled the game for most of the night and outscored the Hokies 67-48 the final 26 minutes of the game.
“Great night and a great atmosphere,” said Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon. “The passing stood out. It was good to get Sheldon going right off the bat. We always think of him as a starter anyway.”
Virginia Tech (12-1, 4-5) was led in scoring by Seth Allen with 28 points. Jalen Hudson added 13 while Zach LeDay and Justin Bibbs chipped in 12 each.
Getting the Start- Dixon made a change in the starting lineup by inserting Jeter for Rafael Maia and it paid off right away. Jeter scored 13 of his 23 points in the first seven minutes of the game, including a stretch where he scored nine consecutive in the early going.
“I found out during shoot around,” Jeter said. “To start the game loose and not be tight coming off the bench was nice. I was in a rhythm right off the bat.”
Shooting the Three- Pitt has been an up and down team when it comes to shooting the basketball during conference play, making just 42.8 of their field goal attempts, compared to 50.8 percent against non-conference foes.
They got off to a solid start offensively, shooting 59.3 percent from the floor in the opening half, in building a 41-32 halftime lead.
Pitt didn’t start out shooting the ball great from behind the arc, missing their first seven attempts, but the three-point shot proved big for the Panthers. With the game tied at 23, Ryan Luther, Sterling Smith and Artis all knocked down three’s as Pitt went on a 10-0 run in a 1:09 span.
The Hokies cut the deficit once again, but Cameron Johnson drained threes on back-to-back possessions late in the half to send Pitt into the locker room up nine.
Pitt only made 8-of-25 (32 percent) attempts from behind the arc on night, but made them in big stretches of the game.
“They are a really good team,” said Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams. “It was the worst we have been this season in terms of turnovers, but they were incredible offensively.”
Lift from Luther- Ryan Luther got more minutes than usual and made them count by scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting in 18 minutes.
Johnson also added nine points off the bench for Pitt while Damon Wilson chipped in eight.
The game featured the two top scoring benches in the ACC, but the Panthers reserves outscored that of the Hokies 29-4.
“Ryan has been very good for us lately,” Dixon said. “He has been getting better defensively, which is the biggest thing. No one wants to play post defense, but he is defending the post pretty well. He is progressing and doing a lot of things well and is making some shots, which he always has been able to do. He has a knack for the ball, but the improvement defensively is the biggest thing. Ryan gave us good minutes, so did Cameron. We continue to develop that bench.”
Cashing in on Mistakes-Pitt forced the Hokies into plenty of mistakes on the night and they turned those into points.
When it was all said and done, Pitt forced 20 VT turnovers and turned that into 33 points. On the other side, the Panthers only turned the ball over nine times and Virginia Tech tuned that into only four points.
“We emphasized turning them over a lot,” Dixon said. “We wanted to take charges and force them into turnovers. We also emphasized low turnovers on our end. It’s good to see things you emphasized play out on game day.”
Sharing the Rock- Pitt moved the ball well all night and assisted on 30-of-36 made baskets.
James Robinson led the way with 11 assists, while also scoring eight points.
On the night 10 different Pitt players found their way into the scoring column while seven different players had at least two assists.
“We just were really aggressive with the ball and we shared the ball well tonight,” Robinson said. “We emphasized that the past two days in practice and it was good to see it translate to the game. When you are making shots and the ball is moving well like it was tonight it makes things a lot easier. We were being unselfish and taking open shots and good shots.”
Up Next: Pitt is off until Saturday when they play host to Virginia.
Photo Credit: Post Gazette
