Pitt Opens ACC Play on the Road at Miami

Wednesday, December 16

Coral Gables, FL

6 PM

Pitt

Miami

Pitt Opens ACC Play on the Road at Miami

12/15/2020 11:15:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Game Notes Jeff Capel Justin Champagnie

Pitt (4-1, 0-0 ACC) at Miami (3-1, 0-0 ACC)
Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020 • 6:00 PM
ACC Network • 93.7 The Fan
Coral Gables, Fla. • Watsco Center

The Opening Tip
• Pitt opens Atlantic Coast Conference play Wednesday, Dec. 16 against Miami at the Watsco Center. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. with the ACC Network broadcasting the contest.
• The Panthers are 3-4 in ACC openers including a 1-1 mark under head coach Jeff Capel. Pitt topped eventual ACC Champion Florida State, 63-61, at the Petersen Events Center in its league opener last season.
• Justin Champagnie was named ACC Player of the Week after recording a pair of 20/20 games last week. He averaged 22.0 points and 20.5 rebounds per game in wins over Northwestern and Gardiner-Webb. Champagnie has posted 20/10 efforts in each of the past three games.
• Pitt's three returning starters - Justin Champagnie, Xavier Johnson and Au'Diese Toney - combine for 52.6 points, 22.8 rebounds and 11.0 assists per game this season. The trio has registered for 14 of the team's 15 double-figure scoring games, including seven games with 20 or more points scored.
• Champagnie is the only player in the ACC averaging a double-double at 19.4 points and 13.0 rebounds per game. At 6-6, he is tied for fourth in the NCAA in rebounding.
• Xavier Johnson leads the ACC in assists (7.7 apg.), while also ranking sixth in three-point field goals (2.2 3pg.) and tied for 11th in scoring (16.8 ppg.) and field goal percentage (.490).

By The Numbers
• Pitt is the only school in the ACC with three players ranked in the top 15 in scoring. The Panther trio of Au'Diese Toney, Xavier Johnson and Justin Champagnie combines for 52.6 points per game, 69.2 percent of Pitt's scoring output. Champagnie (19.4 ppg.) ranks third in the ACC in scoring, while Johnson (16.8 ppg.) and Toney (16.4 ppg.) rank 11th and 13th, respectively.
• Xavier Johnson is 19 points shy of becoming the 47th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Johnson is averaging 13.8 points with 55 double-figure scoring efforts in 70 career games.
• Justin Champagnie is averaging 21.3 points and 14.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 54.0 percent (34-of-63) from the field during Pitt's current four-game win streak. He has recorded 20 or more points and 10 or more rebounds in each of the past three games, including 20/20 games in the past two contests.
• Xavier Johnson leads the ACC in assists (6.6 apg.), ranks 11th in scoring (16.8 ppg.) and field goal percentage (.490), and is 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.94:1). He and Carlik Jones (Louisville) are the only players in the ACC averaging at least 15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
• Au'Diese Toney has scored in double figures in four of the first five games of the season and ranks 13th in the ACC in scoring at 16.4 points per game. He also ranks ninth in the conference in field goal percentage (.529) and tied for seventh in offensive rebounds (2.8 orpg.).
• Nike Sibande has missed Pitt's five games as his waiver for immediate eligibility is still in process with the NCAA. He averaged 15.1 points and 5.1 rebounds, while making 186 three-point field goals in 97 career games at Miami [Ohio]. The NCAA is expected to make a ruling on immediate eligibility for all transfers Wednesday evening.
• Justin Champagnie became the first Panther to earn ACC Player of the Week honors since Michael Young collected the honor twice (Nov. 14 and Nov. 21) during the 2016-17 season. Champagnie averaged 22.0 points, 20.5 rebounds per game in a pair of wins last week.
• Pitt's post trio - Abdoul Karim Coulibaly, John Hugley and Terrell Brown - combines to average 10.3 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. The group combined for 12 points, 21 rebounds and four blocks in Wednesday's win over Gardner-Webb.
• Pitt has shot 50 percent or better from the field in the second half in three of the past four games. The Panthers are shooting 50.0 percent (73-of-146) from the field in the second half of play on the season, including 51.3 percent (59-of-115) during its current four-game win streak.
• The Panthers rank third in the ACC in assists (16.8 apg.) and are assisting on 61.8 percent (84-of-136) of its made field goals through five games. Xavier Johnson (33) and Au'Diese Toney (13) have accounted for 46 of the Panthers' 84 assists.
• Pitt is second in the conference in rebound margin (+10.40) after outrebounding both Northwestern and Gardner-Webb by 20 rebounds. The Panthers are averaging 56.0 rebounds per game in their past two contests.
• The Panthers rank second in the ACC in offensive rebounds (15.8 orpg.) and offensive rebound percentage (.395). Pitt also has a +56 scoring margin in second chance points.
• Pitt is tied for 16th nationally in rebounds per game (44.8 rpg.). The Panthers have not averaged 40 or more rebounds per game since the 1993-94 season.
• The Panthers have held their past four opponents to 25.6 percent (23-of-90) shooting from beyond the three-point arc. Pitt ranks third in the ACC in three-point field goal defense (.278) on the season.

Seeing 20/20 Again
• Justin Champagnie recorded 24 points and 21 rebounds against Gardner-Webb to join Caleb Swanigan (Purdue) and Blake Griffin (Oklahoma) as the only players in the past 25 years with consecutive 20/20 games.
• Champagnie is one of six ACC players in the ACC since 1970 to post two or more 20/20 games in a season. Tim Duncan (Wake Forest) was the last ACC player to accomplish the feat during the 1996-97 season.