ACC Basketball: Analyzing each team’s overall offense for 2020-21 season
Pittsburgh Panthers
2019-20: 63 ppg in ACC play
An argument can be made that Pittsburgh Basketball will be the lowest-scoring offense in the ACC by the end of the 2020-21 season. To actually write that on the internet, for the rest of existence may be too hot of a take. The main cause of the Panthers’ struggles will not originate due to the departure of five transfers, highlighted by Trey McGowens (11.5 ppg) and one graduate, it is that the offense will be very predictable.
Even the most loyal Pittsburgh fan has to acknowledge that starting point guard Xavier Johnson has a tendency to dribble too much. This leads to multiple possessions that consist of him trying to unsuccessfully penetrate until he turns the ball over, or the offense swings the ball around until taking a deep shot with the shot-clock winding down. All of the aforementioned was a by-product of having the worst three-point percentage in school history, which was under 30 percent over their 33 games.
Now eligible to help improve the three-point shooting is Delaware transfer Ithiel Horton. With McGowens and Ryan Murphy transferring, the 6’3 Horton who shot 40 percent on almost six three-point attempts per game will be Coach Jeff Capel’s answer at shooting guard in order to spread the defense for sophomore Justin Champagne (12.7 ppg).
Champagne, the 6’6 starting forward will be the focal point of the Panthers’ offense and will increase his eleven shots per game. Whether he gets the ball in the post versus a guard or out on the wing versus a forward Champagne loves to face up his defender. The addition of Horton who shoots at least10 percent better than McGowens and Murphy from the arc makes the handoff dribble between Champagne and the shooting guard for a jumper more difficult to defend.
Au’diese Toney will continue to be an undersized forward at 6’6 as he was last season in the frontcourt with Champagne and Eric Hamilton. Offensively the small line-up allows Toney to take bigger defenders to the basket, which contributed to Toney having the second-largest Offensive Win Shares. The frontcourt will be rounded out with senior Terrell Brown, but Panthers’ fans will be watching and waiting for 6’10 freshman Max Amadasun to become a starter. Moving Brown out of the starting line-up with even more minutes than Amadasun will bolster a thin bench.
The bench that will consist of five freshmen and five returning players who combined for an average of four points is going to put a cap on the amount the offense can score and make it just as difficult for the Panthers to close out games with a lead as it was last season.