Pittsburgh Basketball: Panthers finally get good news with John Hugley return

If you’ve been following Pittsburgh Basketball for the past week, it’s been fairly known how rough a time they’ve had when it comes to player news. The first blow occurred when five-star center prospect Efton Reid jilted the Panthers for the LSU Tigers last weekend before star forward Justin Champagnie decided to stay in the NBA Draft.

That left Pittsburgh without much of a frontcourt to speak of, which has been a continuing issue for the past several years. This doesn’t even include four-year rotational player Terrell Brown and last season’s starter at power forward Karim Coulibaly, who each transferred out. That left Noah Collier and Max Amadasun as frontcourt players on the roster, two freshmen that combined to play in 16 games and 116 total minutes.

The good news for the Panthers is that they were able to land Chris Payton, a 6’7 forward from Indiana Hills that was one of the top Junior College prospects in this recruiting class. He averaged a double-double and has the potential to play well in the ACC but the program needs far more to be competitive next season.

Well, there was another frontcourt player on last season’s roster. And it was a talent one in John Hugley. A former top-100 prospect, there were plenty of expectations for the freshman big man. And he had his moments in the first month of the season, averaging 5.1 ppg and 4.3 rpg in seven games and around 15 mpg.

Unfortunately, Hugley’s season was cut short after a felony arrest for theft of a vehicle and was suspended by the program. His future was in limbo as he was away from the team ever since. And considering how players that get into trouble tend to transfer out just to get a “new start”, there truly was no telling if we would see Hugley in a Panthers’ uniform ever again,

It proved to be a big day for the young man. The felony charges were dismissed and the state’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program (ARD) gives Hugley a chance to get through this situation without a conviction. The program announced later that day that the freshman big man would be re-instated and allowed to join them immediately.

It’s a second chance for Hugley and a big break for Pitt as a program. They didn’t have a true center that would play in the ACC and in the limited time he did play, the 6’9 and 240-pound big man showed that he’s capable of being an impact player. Hugley joins Amadasun, Payton, and Oakland transfer Daniel Oladapo as the projected frontcourt rotation players for next season, while they’ll probably look for a veteran center to provide depth.

Hugley and Payton may not be on the same level as Champagnie and Reid and this news may not make much national noise. But compared to the other options that were and weren’t available to the team, Pittsburgh Basketball could do a lot worse than this. If the former top-100 prospect can get it together off the floor and get better on the court, Hugley can be a real impact for the Panthers in 2021-22.