Pitt Concludes Regular Season Sunday Afternoon At NC State

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt women's basketball team (10-18, 3-14 ACC) closes out their 2022-23 regular season Sunday afternoon as they head to Raleigh, NC to battle NC State. Sunday's game will tip at 2:00 pm and air on ACC Network Extra.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Sunday's game will air live on ACC Network Extra and can be viewed HERE.
Live stats of the game can be found by clicking HERE.
The game will also air live on the radio on 1320 AM WJAS and can be listened to by clicking HERE. The voice of the Panthers Josh Rowntree will get things started with the pregame show at 1:45 pm from Reynolds Arena.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt women's basketball account @Pitt_WBB.

STORYLINES

Senior captain Amber Brown continues to produce for the Panthers as she posted her 14th double figure scoring game of the season against Syracuse as she netted 10 points, six rebounds and three steals. On the year, Brown in averaging a career-high 9.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting 50.3% from the floor.
Junior Liatu King is enjoying the best season of her career as she is averaging a career-high 9.4 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 39.5% from the floor. King ranks 4th in the ACC in blocks (1.5 bpg) and 5th in rebounds (7.6 rpg). King has scored in double figures a career-high 11 times while also posting a career-high five double-doubles on the year.

THE OPENING TIP

Pitt hits the road to close out their regular season schedule on Sunday as they take on NC State at 2pm on ACC Network Extra.
Freshman guard Avery Strickland is playing at a high level of late as she is averaging 9.8 points and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 56% from behind the arc (9-for-16) over her past four games for the Panthers. She has connected on multiple triples in three of her last four games.
The Pitt bench is producing monster numbers of late as they have combined to score a program record 158 points across the past four games including back-to-back 50+ point efforts for the first time in program history.

THE SERIES WITH NC STATE

This meeting marks the 12th between the two programs with NC State owning the 9-2 series lead over Pitt.
The Wolfpack have won seven straight in the series including the lone matchup last season in Pittsburgh.
NC State holds the 4-1 lead in games played in Raleigh.
Pitt's last win in the series came in 2015 in Raleigh.

SCOUTING THE WOLFPACK

The NC State Wolfpack enter Sunday's game with a 18-10 overall record and an 8-9 ACC mark. They have dropped two straight including a 77-62 road loss at Duke Thursday.
Diamond Johnson is leading the Wolfpack averaging 12.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists while connecting on a team-high 47 three-pointers. Jada Boyd is having a strong season as she is averaging 9.6 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 45% from the floor and 84.5% from the charity stripe.
Jakia Brown-Turner has been a consistent presence for the Wolfpack as she is averaging 8.9 points and 3.9 rebounds while knocking down 28 triples. Saniya Rivers is averaging 8.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.9 steals while shooting 46.3% from the floor.
As a team, NC State is averaging 71.1 points per game while allowing 62.5 points per contest. They are shooting 43.2% from the floor while holding opponents to just 38.1% shooting.

BENCH MAKING MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS

The Pitt bench has made a big impact so far this season as the Panthers' depth has really shined.
Last time out, Pitt scored 28 bench points in the loss to Syracuse.
Over the past four games, Pitt has scored 158 bench points. The 158 bench points over a four-game stretch are the most in program history and the most by any team in the NCAA this season.
Pitt posted back-to-back 50+ point bench games for the first time in program history last week. Pitt is also the only team in the country this season to score 50+ bench points in back-to-back games.
In the road win over Georgia Tech Sunday, the Panthers scored a program record 58 bench points from five different players. Pitt had four bench players score in double figures for the first time in program history.
The 58 bench points are the 7th most scored in a game so far this season in the NCAA. They are the second most bench points scored against a Power 5 team and the most scored in a road win by a team in the NCAA so far this season.
The Panthers bench is averaging 25.9 points per game so far this season. Pitt set a program record last season scoring an average of 22.4 points per game from their bench.
On the year, Pitt has 10 games with 30+ bench points after posting only four such games all last season. The 10 games with 30+ points for their bench are the most such games in a single season in program history.

BENCH POINTS IN A SINGLE GAME (NCAA)
Team            Opponent (Result) Points
GCU              Columbia College (W) 69
Boise St.       Multnomah (W)           67
WKU             at Ball State (L)             66
So. Carolina Hampton (W)               65
Iowa             Rutgers (W)                  61
Northern Ill. Western Ill. (W)            61
Pitt               at Georgia Tech (W)    58
Pitt               Boston College (W)      51

JOHNSON GROWING IN YEAR TWO

Sophomore guard Maliyah Johnson has taken a huge step in year two for the Panthers on both ends of the court.
After averaging just 1.9 ppg as a freshman, Johnson has bumped her scoring average to a career-high 8.5 ppg while adding 3.6 rebounds and 0.9 steals per game. She has also started a career-high 24 games for Pitt.
Last time out, Johnson was the leading scorer for Pitt with 12 points on 5-for-9 from the floor and 2-for-3 from behind the arc.
The sophomore has knocked down a career-high 33 three-pointers while shooting a career-high 30.6% from behind the arc. She has connected on multiple triples in 10 games so far this season.
Earlier this season in the win over Bryant, Johnson exploded for a career-high 20 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in 20 minutes of work. She finished off her efficient game going 7-for-9 from the floor and 4-for-6 from behind the arc in the win.
The 20-point effort was a career-high and marked her first career game in double digits. The four three-pointers were also a career-high.
She has scored in double figures 12 times this season after not scoring 10+ in any game last season as a freshman. She also has four games with 15+ points on the year.

NEXT UP

Pitt will head to the Ally ACC Women's Basketball Tournament in Greensboro, NC. The Panthers will open up their tournament on Wednesday, Mar. 1 as they will play in either the 1:00 pm or 3:30 pm game.

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