Pitt, Northwestern Square Off Wednesday in ACC-Big Ten Challenge

Pitt (2-1, 0-0 ACC) at Northwestern (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020 • 9:15 PM
ESPN2 • 93.7 The Fan
Evanston, Ill. • Welsh-Ryan Arena

The Opening Tip
• Pitt travels to Northwestern for its first road game of the season Wednesday, Dec. 9. Tipoff is set for 9:15 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena with ESPNU broadcasting the ACC-Big Ten Challenge contest.
• The Panthers are 2-3 in ACC-Big Ten Challenge games, including a 1-2 ledger in road contests. Last season, Pitt topped Rutgers, 71-60, at the Petersen Events Center.
• Pitt is 23-6 against teams outside the Atlantic Coast Conference under head coach Jeff Capel with a 1-2 mark in non-conference road contests.
• Pitt's three returning starters - Justin Champagnie, Xavier Johnson and Au'Diese Toney - are combining for 53.0 points, 17.4 rebounds and 13.7 assists per game this season.
• The Panthers scored 70 or more points in each of the first three games of the season and are averaging 80.7 points per game. Pitt has not topped the 70-point mark in each of the first four games of the year since the 2015-16 season.
• Pitt is shooting 59.4 percent (63-of-106) from inside the three-point arc through three games. The Panthers went 42-of-62 (.677) on two-point attempts in the past two games.
• Au'Diese Toney has scored 15 or more points in each of the first three games, marking the first time in his career he has accomplished that feat. Toney ranks fifth in the ACC in scoring (18.3 ppg.), third in field goal percentage (.633) and tied for 11th in three-point percentage (2.0 3pg.).

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 53.0 points per game, 65.7 percent of Pitt's scoring output.
• Au'Diese Toney has scored 55 points in the first three games of the season, the best three-game scoring stretch of his career. He enters Wednesday's game ranked fifth in the ACC in scoring at 18.3 points per game.
• Xavier Johnson is 52 points shy of becoming the 47th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Johnson is averaging 13.7 points with 53 double-figure scoring efforts in 69 career games.
• Justin Champagnie ranks among the ACC leaders in scoring (17.7 ppg. - 8th) and rebounding (8.0 rpg. - T-10th). He is one of seven players in the conference averaging better than 15.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
• Au'Diese Toney ranks third in the ACC in field goal percentage after going a combined 19-of-30 (.633) from the field over the first three games. He is 13-of-16 (.813) on his two-point attempts and 6-of-14 (.429) from three-point range.
• Xavier Johnson leads the ACC in assists (8.3 apg.), ranks ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5:1) and is tied for 10th in scoring (17.0 ppg.). He is one of four players in the ACC averaging at least 15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
• Nike Sibande has missed the first three games of the season as his waiver for immediate eligibility is still in process with the NCAA. Sibande averaged 15.1 points and 5.1 rebounds, while making 186 three-point field goals in 97 career games at Miami [Ohio].
• Abdoul Karim Coulibaly is 6-of-7 (.857) from the field and is averaging 4.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 18.7 minutes per game.
• Terrell Brown ranks fourth at Pitt with 158 career blocks and is 12 shy of tying Sam Clancy for third overall in the Panther record books. He is averaging 4.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.60 blocks in 99 career games (45 starts).
• William Jeffress is the second youngest player in the NCAA to appear in a game this season and the youngest ACC player to play in a game since Brad Daugherty made his debut for North Carolina in the 1982-83 season opener. He is averaging 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game.
• Pitt's post trio - Abdoul Karim Coulibaly, John Hugley and Terrell Brown - combines to average 11.5 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.
• Ithiel Horton knocked down five three-point field goals in the win over Northern Illinois for his fifth career game with five or more made threes. He leads the Panthers in three-point field goals (7) and three-point field goal percentage (.438).
• Justin Champagnie scored a game-high 21 points and added six rebounds, while Xavier Johnson finished with 11 points, six rebounds and eight assists in a win over Northwestern in the title game of the Fort Myers Tipoff last season.
• The Panthers have had four different players make three or more three-point field goals in a game this season. Pitt is seventh in ACC in threes per game (8.33 3pg.) and is coming of a game with 14 made three-point field goals.
• Pitt has shot 50 percent or better from the field in each of the past two games. The Panthers are 9-1 under Jeff Capel when shooting 50 percent or better from the field. Capel-led teams are 81-9 when reaching that mark.
• The Panthers rank second in the ACC in assists (19.7 apg.) following a season-high 26 assist game against Northern Illinois. Xavier Johnson (25) and Au'Diese Toney (12) have accounted for 37 of the Panthers' 59 assists on the season.

Backcourt mates
• Jeff Capel and Chris Collins were teammates at Duke for three seasons (1993-96) and were assistant coaches under Mike Krzyzewski for two seasons (2011-13).
• Capel and Collins started together in the backcourt on the 1993-94 Duke team that went 28-6 overall and played in the National Championship game. The duo combined for 2,692 points and 429 three-point field goals in their Blue Devil careers.

Pitt, Northwestern Square Off Wednesday in ACC-Big Ten Challenge

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Players Mentioned

Terrell Brown

Justin Champagnie

Abdoul Karim Coulibaly

Ithiel Horton

John Hugley IV

William Jeffress

Xavier Johnson

Nike Sibande

Au'Diese Toney