Panthers Open Elevance Fort Myers Tip-Off Friday Against Towson

FORT MYERS, FL - The University of Pittsburgh women's basketball team (4-0, 0-0 ACC) heads to the Elevance Fort Myers Tip-Off for three games in three days starting Friday afternoon against Towson. The Panthers and Tigers will tip at 2:00 pm Friday.

The Panthers will then play DePaul on Saturday at 2:00 pm and Maryland on Sunday at 11:30 am.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Friday's game will air live HERE.
Live stats of the game can be found by clicking HERE.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt women's basketball account @Pitt_WBB.

STORYLINES

Junior Liatu King exploded for a career game to carry the Panthers to their second straight City Game win Saturday night. King finished off her second straight double-double with a career-high 25 points and 11 rebounds on 10-for-17 from the floor in the win.
The Pitt defense continues to stifle their opponents as they held Duquesne to just 45 points on 26.3% shooting overall and 22.6% from behind the arc Saturday. Pitt has now held three of their first four opponents to 45 points or less for the first time in program history. Overall, the Pitt defense has now held 33 of their last 34 opponents (dating back to last season) to 45% or less shooting from the floor.

THE OPENING TIP

The Panthers head to the Sunshine State for three games in three days starting Friday afternoon as they take on Towson at 2:00 pm in the opening round of the Elevance Fort Myers Tip-Off.
Pitt will be looking to improve to 5-0 to start the season for just the fifth time in program history.
The dynamic duo of Maliyah Johnson and Liatu King have recorded back-to-back 20-point games for the Panthers. The duo is averaging a combined 22.8 points, 15.8 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game so far this season while shooting 53.7% through four games.

LAST TIME OUT – DUQUESNE

The Panthers moved to 4-0 on the year as they collected a City Game win over cross-town rival Duquesne Saturday night at the Petersen Events Center, 61-45.
The win gives Pitt two straight wins in the series and three of the last four overall against the Dukes.
Liatu King put the Panthers on her back Saturday as she exploded with a career-high 25 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while going 10-for-17 from the floor in the 16-point win. The double-double marked her second straight for Pitt.
The Panthers defense secured the win in the second half as they limited the Dukes to just 22 points over the final 20 minutes. Pitt held Duquesne to just 26.3% shooting from the floor and 22.6% from deep in the win.
Pitt protected the ball in the win as they turned the ball over a season-low 11 times while they turned 13 Duquesne turnovers into 18 points in the win.

THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENTS UNDER COACH WHITE

The Elevance Fort Myers Tip-Off Tournament will be the fourth Thanksgiving Tournament the Panthers have played in since Coach White took over the program in 2018-19.
The Panthers own a 4-4 record in Thanksgiving Tournaments under White.
Pitt has traveled to Nashville, Daytona Beach, the Virgin Islands and now Fort Myers with White in charge.
Pitt will be playing Towson, DePaul and nationally ranked Maryland this week in Fort Myers. DePaul and Maryland made the NCAA Tournament last season while Towson was in the WNIT.

DEFENSE LEADING THE WAY

The Panthers have leaned on their strong defense to start the season and it has earned them four straight double digit victories to open the 2022-23 campaign.
Pitt has continued their tough defense from the end of last season as they held Duquesne to just 45 points on 26.3% shooting from the floor and 22.6% from behind the arc in the win Saturday.
Pitt has now held three of their first four opponents to 45 points or less for the first time in program history. The Panthers currently rank 10th in the NCAA in scoring defense (46.3 ppg).
Dating back to last season, the Panthers have now held 33 of their last 34 opponents to 45% or under shooting from the floor. Last season Pitt was one of two squads (South Carolina) to hold at least 29 opponents to 45% or less shooting.
Over the last 13 games dating back to last year, the Panthers are holding opponents to just 24.4% shooting from behind the arc.
So far this season, Pitt ranks 11th in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense (30.2%) and 16th in the NCAA in three-point percentage defense (20.2%).
The Panthers own a 22-9 record when they hold opponents to 59 points or less since Lance White took over the program in 2018-19.
The Pitt defense has been forcing turnovers at a high rate through three games as they have 39 total steals. It marks the most through four games by Pitt since 2015-16 (41).
The Panthers opened the season allowing just 41 points at Coppin State which marked the lowest total against in a season opener since 2015-16.

KING OF THE CITY

Junior Liatu King has shown major growth so far this season as she is blossoming into a premier threat down low for the Panthers.
Earning her third straight start Saturday, King carried the Panthers to victory over rival Duquesne as she posted her second straight double-double. She finished off her monster game with 25 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while going 10-for-17 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the free throw line.
She is one of just three players in the nation this season (Annesha Morrow - DePaul, Elizabeth Kitley - VT) to record at least 25 points, 11 rebounds and three steals in a game.
King posted 10 points and 14 boards in the win over Bryant Wednesday as she now has two straight double-doubles and six in her Pitt career.
On the year, the junior is averaging a double-double with 12.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game while shooting 55.3% from the floor. She is one of three players in the ACC averaging a double-double while ranking third in rebounding.
Over her career, King has grabbed at least five rebounds in 28 of her 50 career games. She has led the Panthers in rebounding 15 times while snagging 10+ boards 10 times in her career including in three straight games.
The Washington, DC native has scored in double figures 15 times in her career while scoring 20+ points twice.
She had an impressive finish to last season as she scored in double figures in each of her last five games. Over her final five games, King averaged 12.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting 42.2% from the floor.
Last year in the Virgin Islands Thanksgiving Tournament, King posted back-to-back games with 19 rebound double-doubles. She was the only player in the NCAA last season to grab at least 19 rebounds in two straight games. She was also one of only three Power 5 players to grab 19 rebounds twice last season.
In the win over Northwestern last year, King posted 23 points and 19 rebounds as she was the only player in the nation to post that statline against a Power 5 opponent.
King grew up in a quiet household as both of her parents are deaf. Her first language was American Sign Language at 9 months old.
Last season, the Panthers hosted their first annual Deaf Awareness Night against Rutgers to honor King and the deaf community. T-shirts were given away as well as in-game content to raise awareness for the deaf community and King's story.
The Panthers will be hosting the 2nd Annual Deaf Awareness Game on Dec. 11 against Ball State at 12pm. The game will also air on ACC Network.