Next Up – Pitt On The Road

Duke gets a chance to bounce back with a visit to Pitt

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

After Saturday’s loss in Chapel Hill, Duke is off to Pitt to take the measure of Jeff Capel’s Panthers. And that’s an interesting team.

There’s no question that at 9-15, Pitt is struggling. They’ve only won twice since December 30th, with a solid win over Georgia Tech, 89-66, and an 80-76 overtime win over Wake Forest.

Pitt is not a team with overwhelming size or talent but as usual with Capel-coached teams, they are physical and tough. But the offense has been erratic. Three-point shooting is a weakness

– 29.9% in ACC games – and turnovers have been a problem. Pitt’s defense is also not great, ranking 262nd in the nation. That’s a lot to overcome. That said, they only have to play well for 40 minutes or, as UNC showed this past weekend, even less than that.

Pitt features Cam Corhen inside and he’s turned out to be a decent player. A senior, Corhen is solidly built at 6-10/235, and he’s getting 12.3 ppg and 7.4 rebounds. He’ll be even more useful if Pat Ngongba can’t go: he’s listed as questionable. We’re not sure why yet.

Sophomore Brandin Cummings is developing well. He’s getting 12.5 ppg and 2.1 assists.

Barry Dunning, a well-traveled 6-6 senior, is putting up 11.5 ppg and 5.5 rebounds.

We’ve been keeping an eye on Roman Siulepa. The 6-6 freshman from Brisbane is physically gifted. It may take him a couple of years to get his skills up to speed for the American game, but when he does, look out. He’s got something.

Damarco Minor has had his moments this year. A 6-0 senior, Minor is getting 9.5 ppg, 3.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

Nojus Indrusaitis, a 6-5 sophomore, is getting 8 ppg, 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists.

Omari Witherspoon, a 6-4 freshman, has certainly had his moments too and could develop into a nice player. Right now, he’s still fairly erratic and isn’t shooting well and has had 12 turnovers in the last three games. He has the potential to be a pain.

Papa Amadou Kante, a 6-10 sophomore, has struggled with injuries, including this year, and he’s out for the season. Dishon Jackson has been out all season with a medical issue, giving Pitt less depth inside.

So does Pitt have a shot against Duke?

That depends.

Duke lost a heartbreaker in Chapel Hill and if they bounce back from that with intensity and passion, it’ll be very tough. If the Blue Devils are listless, then Pitt’s odds obviously go up.

We’d keep an eye on Siulepa. He’s got great talent and Duke doesn’t necessarily match up with him very well. Dame Sarr might be the best bet, but he’s not as powerful as Siulepa.

Witherspoon could also go off and we’d pay attention to him as well.

Minor is at a disadvantage though at 6-0 against Duke’s taller defenders and Corhen gets to deal with Patrick Ngongba and Maliq Brown pestering him.

If form holds and Pitt struggles from outside and with ball control, then they’re going to have a bigger hill to climb. They’ll certainly play a physical game, and try and pound Duke as much as possible. Not in a dirty way, just playing hard.

It’s a tough matchup in more ways than you might think and if Big Pat can’t go, Duke has another problem. We’ll see how it goes.

Adding links as we find them.