Panthers Host Jacksonville in Tuesday Afternoon Tilt

Pitt (4-7, 0-1 ACC) vs. Jacksonville (7-3, 0-0 A-Sun)
Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021 • 2:00 PM
Pittsburgh, Pa. • Petersen Events Center
ACC Network • 93.7 The Fan

The Opening Tip
• Pitt returns home to wrap up non-conference play against Jacksonville Tuesday, Dec. 21. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. with Drew Carter and Malcolm Huckaby calling the action on the ACC Network.
• The Panthers are coming off a last second win over St. John's Saturday afternoon. Three of the past five games for Pitt have been decided by a made field goal in the final five seconds of play.
• Pitt's past five games have been decided by five points or fewer and by a combined 11 points overall. The Panthers are 3-3 on the season in games decided by five points or fewer.
• The Panthers have held four of its past five opponents to fewer than 60 points scored and are allowing just 58.4 points per game in that span.
• John Hugley has scored in double figures a team-best eight times. He leads Pitt in scoring (15.1 ppg.) and rebounds (8.0 rpg.) and is 53-of-104 (.510) on two-point field goal attempts and 51-of-74 (.689) from the foul line.
• Jamarius Burton has scored in double figures in each of the past four games, including a career-high 20 points in Saturday's win over St. John's at Madison Square Garden. He is averaging 14.8 points per game in that span.
• Pitt has held its past five opponents to 5.8 three-point field goal per game and 27.4 percent (29-of-106) shooting from beyond the arc. The Panthers ' opposition made 59 threes (9.8 3pg.) over the first six contests of the season.

By The Numbers
• Jamarius Burton is set to play in his 100th career game Tuesday afternoon. He enters the contest with 729 points, 293 rebounds and 277 assists in his career. Burton's teams are 63-36 in games that he plays in.
• John Hugley has scored 20 or more points four times and also has four double-doubles on the season. He currently ranks among the league leaders in scoring (11th - 15.1 ppg.), rebounds (5th - 8.0 rpg.) and offensive rebounds (2nd - 3.09 orpg.).
• Pitt is playing without its top five scorers from a season ago with a season-ending injury to Nike Sibande, a suspension of Ithiel Horton, the departure of Justin Champagnie to the NBA and two offseason transfers. Femi Odukale (6.6 ppg.) and John Hugley (5.1 ppg.) are the only returning players to average better than 5.0 points per game last season. The tandem has combined for 13 double-figure scoring games and an average of 26.9 points per game.
• Jamarius Burton is averaging 11.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists in a team-high 32.1 minutes per game after missing five weeks of action including Pitt's first two games of the season due to injury. He has scored 10+ points in each of the past four games and 32 times in his career.
• Mouhamadou Gueye is averaging 9.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in six games when playing 25 minutes or more. He has scored in double figures in four of the six contests, including a season-high 15 points in the win over St. John's.
• Jamarius Burton hit a game-winning pullup against St. John's with 0.4 second remaining Saturday afternoon. The shot was Pitt's first game-winning bucket with under a second remaining since Ashton Gibbs' buzzer beating three to top Providence March 4, 2010.
• Femi Odukale is 30-of-39 (.769) from the foul line over the past six games. He has made seven free throws in a game three times during that stretch.
• John Hugley has gotten to the free throw line 47 times in the past six games. He ranks second in the league in free throw attempts (74) and is third in made free throws (51).
• Pitt is averaging 26.2 points in the paint and 15.3 points from the foul line per game. Interior scoring and foul shots have accounted for 68.5 percent (455-of-664) of the team's points this season.
• Pitt has been outscored 264-135 from three-point range on the season. Pitt's top two returning three-point threats Nike Sibande (injury) and Ithiel Horton (suspension) have not played a game this season. Onyebuchi Ezeakudo (8-of-16, .500) is the lone Panther shooting over 35.0 percent from three-point range.
• Pitt has more made free throws (167) than its opponents have attempted (156) on the season. The Panthers are averaging 23.0 free throw attempts per game and have outscored the opposition by 62 points from the free throw line.
• Pitt's sophomore class - Noah Collier, John Hugley, William Jeffress and Femi Odukale - combines to average 33.6 points and 19.3 rebounds per game for the Panthers. Jeffress (31.4 mpg.), Odukale (30.4) and Hugley (28.9 mpg.) are three of the top four Panthers in minutes played per game and have combined to make 30 starts.
• The Panthers have played five consecutive games decided by five points or fewer, marking the first time since the 2013-14 season that has occurred. Pitt played six consecutive games decided by five points or fewer from Feb. 2 -Feb. 23 of the 2013-14 season. Three of the five games in the current stretch have been decided by a made basket in the final three seconds of play.

Panther Spotlights
• Jamarius Burton is averaging 16.0 points per game on 17-of-38 (.447) shooting from the field over the past three games. He is coming off a career-high 20-point effort in the win over St. John's at Madison Square Garden.
• John Hugley has led the team in rebounding in four of the past five games and is averaging 8.4 rebounds per game in that span. He has 17 offensive boards (3.40 orpg.) in Pitt's past five outings.

Panthers Host Jacksonville in Tuesday Afternoon Tilt

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Players Mentioned

Jamarius Burton

Justin Champagnie

Noah Collier

Onyebuchi Ezeakudo

Mouhamadou Gueye

Ithiel Horton

John Hugley IV

William Jeffress

Femi Odukale

Nike Sibande